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ANTICHRIST 


Antichrist 

INCLUDING 

THE  PERIOD  FROM  THE  ARRIVAL  OF  PAUL  IN   ROME 
TO  THE  END  OF  THE  JEWISH  REVOLUTION 


BY 


ERNEST   RENAN 

AUTHOR   OF   "THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL" 
"  LIFE  OF  JESUS,"  "  FUTURE  OF  SCIENCE,"  ETC. 


TRANSLATED  AND  EDITED 

BY 

JOSEPH    HENRY   ALLEN 

LATE  LECTURER  ON   ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY  IN   HARVARD   UNIVERSITY 


OF   THf    *^ 
OF 


BOSTON 

ROBERTS    BROTHERS 
1897 


< 


Copyright^  1897, 
By  Roberts  Brothers. 

All  rights  reserved. 


Santbersitg  Press: 
John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambridge,  U.S.A. 


EDITOR'S  NOTE. 


This  volume  is  the  fourth  in  a  series  entitled  "  Beginnings  of 
Christian  History  "  (^Histoire  des  Origines  du  Christianiame^, 
published  at  intervals  from  1863  to  1882.  The  titles  and 
dates  of  the  several  volumes  are  the  following :  —  Life  of 
Jesus,  1863;  The  Apostles,  1866;  Saint  Paul,  1869;  Anti- 
christ, 1873 ;  The  Gospels,  1877  ;  The  Church,  1879  ;  Marcus 
Aurelius,  1882.  The  selection  of  this  for  separate  publica- 
tion is  in  accordance  with  a  judgment  thus  expressed  by  Sir 
Mountstuart  E.  Grant  Duff,  a  personal  friend  of  the  author : 
"  If  any  one  who  did  not  wish  to  read  through  the  seven 
volumes  of  the  Origines,  but  only  desired  to  form  an  opinion 
of  Renan  as  an  historian,  were  to  ask  me  what  part  of  them 
he  should  read,  I  should  certainly  reply,  the  fourth  volume, 
that  to  which  the  author  gave  the  name  of  L* Antechristy 
(Ernest  Renan,  In  Memoriam,  p.  132.) 

Imperfect  translations  of  the  first  three  volumes,  and  per- 
haps of  others,  have  already  appeared  in  English;  and  the 
first,  the  "  Life  of  Jesus,"  was  given  to  the  public  a  year  ago 
under  the  present  editorship.  The  critical  reader  will  notice 
a  certain  freedom  in  dealing  with  the  grammatical  structure 
of  some  of  M.  Renan's  periods ;  an  occasional  transference  of 
matter  from  the  notes  to  the  text,  or  the  reverse ;  the  ren- 
dering into  English  of  many  sentences  or  phrases  given  by 

219118 


vi  EDITOR'S  NOTE. 

the  author  in  the  original  tongues;  an  Index  of  contents; 
and  the  insertion  of  the  text  of  numerous  citations,  and  ex- 
planations where  they  seemed  to  be  required,  especially  of 
oriental  words  and  phrases  and  of  later  views  regarding  the 
structure  of  the  Apocalypse,  in  which  the  Editor  acknowledges 
the  kind  aid  of  his  friend  Professor  Toy.^  In  all  other  respects 
his  aim  has  been  to  give  an  absolutely  faithful  transcription 
of  the  substance,  style,  spirit,  and  literary  colouring  of  the 
original. 

J.  H.  A. 
Cambridge,  Mass., 

Octoher,  1897. 

^  I  have  not  hesitated  to  translate  ^aaikevs  (1  Pet.  ii.  13)  "  emperor," 
and  dia^oXos  (id.  v.  8)  "  false  accuser,"  where  Renan  follows  the  tradi- 
tional rendering. 


CONTENTS. 


Paob 

INTRODUCTION:  On  Certain  Original  Authorities  con- 
sulted IN  the  Preparation  of  this  Volume     ....  1 

Chaftkb 

I.    Paul  in  Prison 31 

II.    Peter  at  Rome 48 

III.  The  Churches  in  Judaea 62 

IV.  Latest  Acts  of  Paul 81 

V.    Nearing  the  Crisis     ...          106 

VI.     Conflagration  of  Rome 116 

VII.     The  Christian  Martyrs 138 

VIII.     Death  of  Peter  and  Paul 159 

IX.     After  the  Crisis 172 

X.     The  Revolt  in  Judaea 189 

XI.    Massacres  in  Syria  and  Egypt 200 

XII.     Vespasian  in  Galilee;  Terror  at  Jkrusalkm     .     .  217 

XIII.  The  Death  of  Nero 244 

XIV.  Disasters  and  Signs 259 

XV.     The  Apostles  in  Asia 272 

XVI.     The  Apocalypse 299 

XVII.     Later  Fortunes  of  the  Book 351 

XVI II.    Accession  of  the  Flavii 371 

XIX.     The  Fall  of  Jerusalem 385 

XX.     Results  of  the  Fall  of  Jerusalem 403 

APPENDIX :   Of   Peter's  Coming  to  Rome,  and  of  John's 

Stay  at  Ephksus 423 

INDEX 439 


INTRODUCTION. 


ON  CERTAIN  ORIGINAL  AUTHORITIES  CONSULTED  IN 
THE  PREPARATION   OF   THIS  VOLUME. 

The  period  covered  by  the  present  volume  is,  after  the  three 
or  four  years  of  the  public  life  of  Jesus,  the  most  extraordinary 
in  the  entire  development  of  Christianity.  Here,  by  a  singular 
touch  of  the  great  unconscious  Aj:tist  who  appears  to  rule  in 
the  seeming  caprice  of  historic  evolution,  we  shall  see  Jesus 
and  Nero  —  Christ  and  Antichrist  —  set,  as  it  were,  in  con- 
trast, face  to  face,  like  heaven  and  hell.  The  Christian 
consciousness  is  now  full-grown.  Hitherto  it  has  known  little 
else  than  the  law  of  love :  Jewish  intolerance,  though  harsh, 
could  not  fret  away  the  bond  of  grateful  attachment  cherished 
in  the  heart  of  the  infant  Church  for  her  mother  the  Synagogue, 
from  whom  she  is  still  hardly  sundered.  Now  at  length  the 
Christian  has  before  him  an  object  of  hate  and  terror.  Over 
against  the  memory  of  Jesus  rises  a  monstrous  form,  the  ideal 
of  evil,  as  He  had  been  the  ideal  of  holiness.  Held  in  reserve, 
like  Enoch  or  Elias,  to  play  his  part  in  the  last  great  tragedy 
of  the  world,  Nero  completes  the  cycle  of  Christian  mythology : 
he  inspires  the  first  sacred  book  of  the  new  canon ;  by  a  fright- 
ful massacre  he  lays  the  corner-stone  of  Romish  primacy,  and 
opens  the  way  to  that  revolution  which  is  to  make  of  Rome 
a  second  Jerusalem,  a  holy  city.  At  the  same  time,  by  a 
mysterious  coincidence  not  infrequent  in  great  crises  of  human 
destiny,  Jerusalem  is  overthrown ;  the  Temple  disappears ; 
Christianity,  disburdened  of  a  restraint  already  painful  and 
advancing  to  a  broadening  freedom,  follows  out  its  own 
destinies  apart  from  conquered  Judaism. 

1 


2  INTRODUCTION. 

The  later  epistles  of  Paul,  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  and 
those  ascribed  to  Peter  and  James,  with  the  Apocalypse,  are 
chief  among  the  canonical  documents  of  this  period.  Valuable 
testimony  comes  to  us,  besides,  from  the  first  epistle  of  the 
Roman  Clement,  and  from  the  historians  Tacitus  and  Josephus. 
At  many  a  point,  notably  the  death  of  the  Apostles  and  the 
relations  of  John  with  the  churches  in  Asia,  our  picture  must 
lie  in  shadow ;  upon  others  we  may  gather  rays  of  real  light. 
Almost  all  the  material  facts  of  the  earliest  Christian  history 
are  obscure ;  what  we  can  see  clearly  is  the  eager  enthusiasm, 
the  superhuman  boldness,  the  scorn  of  circumstance,  which 
make  tliis  the  most  powerful  effort  towards  the  ideal  still 
treasured  in  human  memory. 

In  the  Introduction  to  "  Saint  Paul  "  I  have  treated  of  the 
genuineness  of  the  Letters  ascribed  to  that  chief  of  the  Apostles. 
The  four  referred  to  in  this  volume  —  "  Philippians,"  ^'  Colos- 
sians,"  "  Philemon,"  and  "  Ephesians  "  —  offer  some  ground 
of  doubt.  The  objections  brought  against  "  Philippians  "  are 
of  so  small  account  that  I  have  scarcely  urged  them.  As  we 
shall  see  hereafter,  "  Colossians "  gives  more  ground  for 
scruple,  while  "  Ephesians  "  stands  quite  by  itself  among  the 
Pauline  writings.  In  spite  of  its  grave  difficulties,  however, 
I  still  hold  "  Colossians  "  to  be  genuine.  The  interpolations 
recently  alleged  by  able  critics  are  not  apparent.^  On  this 
point  Holtzmann's  treatment  is  worthy  of  its  learned  author ; 
but  the  way,  too  common  in  Germany,  of  assuming  an  a  priori 
type  to  serve  as  the  absolute  criterion  of  a  writer's  genuine- 
ness is  very  hazardous.  We  cannot,  indeed,  deny  that  inter- 
polation and  fabrication  were  common  enough,  in  the  so-called 
apostolic  writings,  during  the  first  two  Christian  centuries ; 
but,  in  a  matter  like  this,  it  is  impossible  to  draw  a  sharp  line 
between  true  and  false,  genuine  and  spurious.  We  say  con- 
fidently that  the  epistles  to  the  Romans,  Corinthians,  and 
Galatians  are  genuine ;  we  say  just  as  confidently  that  those 
to  Timothy  and  Titus  are  apocryphal.  In  the  border  ground 
between,  we  but  grope  our  way.    The  chief  fault  of  the  so-called 

^  H.  J.  Holtzmann,  Krilik  der  Epheser-  und  Kolosserhriefe^  Leipzig,  1872. 


HISTORIC  METHOD.  3 

Tubingen  school,  dating  from  F.  C.  Baur,  has  been  to  conceive 
the  Jews  of  the  first  century  in  the  mass  as  fed  on  logic  and 
rigid  in  their  deductions.  Peter,  Paul,  even  Jesus,  in  the 
writings  of  this  school,  argue  like  Protestant  professors  in  a 
German  university  ;  each  has  his  own  doctrine ;  each  has  but 
one,  which  he  keeps  always  just  the  same.  The  truth  is,  those 
noble  men,  the  true  heroes  of  this  story,  often  change  their 
view  and  contradict  themselves ;  in  the  course  of  their  life  they 
assume  three  or  four  varying  theories  ;  at  one  time  they  borrow 
views  from  their  opponents,  which  at  another  time  they  sharply 
contradict.  Seen  from  our  point  of  view,  these  men  are  open 
to  quick  impressions,  personal,  irritable,  changeful ;  what 
makes  fixity  in  opinion,  science  or  pure  reason,  is  wholly  un- 
known to  them.  Like  Jews  of  every  time,  they  have  angry  dis- 
putes among  themselves,  yet  make  together  a  very  compact 
body.  To  understand  them,  we  must  clear  ourselves  of  the 
pedantry  inseparable  from  all  academic  methods  ;  we  must 
rather  study  the  petty  groups  and  cliques  of  the  religious  world, 
the  Congregations  of  England  and  America,  and  in  particular 
what  goes  on  in  the  founding  of  all  religious  Orders.  In  this 
regard  the  theological  faculties  in  German  universities  —  the 
best  in  the  world  to  supply  the  enormous  toil  needed  to  bring 
into  shape  the  chaos  of  documents  bearing  on  these  obscure 
beginnings  —  are  the  worst  in  the  world  to  undertake  the  task 
of  a  real  history.  For  history  is  the  interpretation  of  an  un- 
folding life,  an  expanding  germ,  while  theology  (so  to  speak) 
reads  life  backward.  Attending  merely  to  what  confirms  or 
invalidates  his  doctrine,  even  the  most  liberal  of  theologians  is 
unconsciously  an  advocate :  his  aim  is  to  defend  or  else  refute. 
The  aim  of  the  historian  is  simply  to  tell  the  fact.  He  finds  a 
value  in  what  may  be  in  substance  false,  in  documents  even 
spurious ;  for  they  paint  the  soul,  and  are  often  truer  than 
barren  fact.  In  his  view  it  were  the  greatest  of  errors  to 
regard  as  defenders  of  abstract  opinions  those  good  and  simple- 
minded  dreamers,  whose  dreams  through  all  these  ages  have 
been  a  consolation  and  a  joy. 

What  I  have  said  of  "  Colossians,"  and  especially  of  "  Ephe- 


4  INTRODUCTION. 

sians,"  must  be  said  emphatically  of  the  first  epistle  ascribed 
to  Peter,  and  of  those  of  James  and  Jiide.^  The  second  of 
Peter  (so  called)  is  certainly  apocryphal.  We  see  at  a  glance 
that  it  is  an  artificial  compound,  an  imitation  made  up  of  scraps 
of  apostolic  writings,  especially  the  epistle  of  Jude.^  I  do  not 
urge  this  point,  as  I  do  not  suppose  "  Second  Peter "  has  a 
single  defender  among  true  critics.  But  its  very  falsity  — 
having  as  its  main  object  to  inspire  patience  in  the  faithful, 
weary  with  long  waiting  for  the  reappearing  of  Christ  —  in 
a  sense  confirms  the  genuineness  of  "  First  Peter."  Though 
apocryphal  it  is  still  a  very  ancient  writing,  whose  author  fully 
believes  in  the  other  as  really  the  work  of  Peter,  making  his 
own  a  "  second  "  to  it  (see  ch.  iii.  1).^  "  First  Peter,"  on  the 
other  hand,  is  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  frequently  cited,  as 
genuine,  among  all  the  New  Testament  writings.*  Only  one 
serious  objection  has  been  made,  —  namely,  to  passages  taken 
(it  is  thought)  from  certain  letters  of  Paul,  particularly  the  so- 
called  "  Ephesians."  ^  But  the  copyist  whom  Peter  must  have 
employed  (if  the  letter  is  really  his)  may  well  have  allowed 
himself  to  borrow  thus.  In  all  times,  preachers  and  journal- 
ists have  laid  hands  without  scruple  on  phrases  that  have 
come  to  be  part  of  the  common  stock  and  are,  as  we  say, 
"  in  the  air."  So  Paul's  amanuensis,  who  wrote  "  Ephesians," 
copied  freely  from  "  Colossians."   Epistolary  writing  is  very  apt 

^  Of  the  latter,  see  "  Saint  Paul,"  chap,  x.,  near  the  end. 

2  Compare  especially  2  Pet.  ii.  with  Jude.  Such  passages  as  i.  14,  16, 
18;  and  iii,  1,  2,  5-7,  15,  16,  also  clearly  prove  it  spurious.  Its  style, 
further,  —  as  Jerome  has  remarked  in  Eput.  ad  Hedih.  11  ;  cf.  De  viris 
illustr.  1,  —  is  no  way  like  that  of  1  Peter.  Finally,  it  is  not  cited  before 
the  third  century.  Irenseus  {Adv.  Hcer.  iv.  9,  2)  and  Origen  (in  Euseb. 
Hist.  Eccl.  vi.  25;  cf.  iii.  25)  ignore  or  exclude  it. 

*  Supposed  imitations  of  1  Peter,  found  in  "  Timothy  "  and  "  Titus," 
touching  the  duties  of  women  and  of  elders,  are  not  so  clear.  But  com- 
pare 1  Tim.  ii.  9-15,  iii.  11,  with  1  Pet.  iii.  1-4,  v.  1-4;  Tit.  i.  5-9. 

4  Papias  in  Euseb.  H.  E.  iii.  39;  Polycarp,  EpUt.  1  (cf.  1  Pet.  i.  8; 
Euseb.  iv.  14) ;  Irenseus,  Adv.  Hoer.  iv.  9,  2;  10,  5  (cf.  Euseb.  v.  8)  ;  Clem. 
Alex.  Strom,  iii.  18,  iv.  7;  TertuU.  Scorp.  12;  Origen  in  Euseb,  vi.  25; 
Euseb.  iii.  25.  ♦ 

«  See  below,  pp.  108,  109. 


FIRST  PETER.  5 

to  show  a  good  deal  that  has  been  so  taken  from  earlier  like 
compositions.^ 

Suspicion  has  been  raised  by  the  passage  1  Pet.  v.  1-4, 
which  recalls  the  pious  but  somewhat  feeble  admonitions, 
wholly  priestly  in  tone,  of  the  spurious  epistles  to  Timothy  and 
Titus.  Besides,  the  insistence  with  which  the  writer  depicts 
himself  [in  v.  1]  as  "  a  witness  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ " 
stirs  doubts  like  those  raised  by  the  persistent  assertions  of  an 
eye-witness  in  the  writings  falsely  ascribed  to  John.  Still,  we 
should  not  stick  at  this.  There  are  many  tokens  of  genuine- 
ness as  well.  For  example,  the  advance  towards  a  hierarchy 
is  hardly  noticeable.  Not  only  there  is  no  hint  of  a  bishopric 
(for  the  phrase  ''  bishop  of  your  souls  "  in  ii.  25  proves  that 
the  word  has  as  yet  no  official  meaning),  but  each  church  has 
not  even  a  Presbyter  :  it  has  "  presbyters,"  or  "  elders,'*  with 
nothing  to  imply  that  they  make  a  distinct  official  body .2  A 
point  worth  noting  is  that  the  writer,^  even  when  laying  stress 
on  the  self-surrender  of  Jesus  on  the  cross,  omits  the  striking 
feature  given  by  Luke  ["Father,  forgive  them,"  etc.],  leading 
us  to  think  that  when  he  wrote  the  legendary  narrative  was 
not  yet  full-grown. 

The  eclectic  and  reconciling  tendencies  observed  in  the 
epistle  of  Peter  bear  against  its  genuineness  only  in  the  view 
of  those  who,  like  Baur  and  his  school,  regard  the  difference 
of  Peter  and  Paul  as  flat  hostility.  If  party  hate  in  the  prim- 
itive church  was  as  deep  as  this  school  thinks,  reconciliation 
would  never  have  come  about.  Peter  was  not,  like  James,  a 
stiff-necked  Jew.  In  composing  this  history  we  must  not  think 
merely  of  *'  Galatians  "  and  the  pseudo-Clementine  homilies  ; 
we  must  remember,  too,  the  "  Acts  of  the  Apostles."  An  his- 
torian's skill  should  exhibit  the  event  so  as  no  way  to  belittle 
party  strifes,  which  were  doubtless  profounder  than  we  could 

1  Besides  the  canonical  epistles,  see  those  of  Clem.  Rom.,  Ignatius,  and 
Polycarp. 

^  Up€(T0vTfpovs  fv  vfiLu  (Yat.  and  Sin.  MSS.) ;  the  common  reading  is 

TOV^    iv    VfilV. 

»  1  Peter  ii.  23;  cf.  Luke  xxiii.  34. 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

even  think ;  yet  so  as  to  let  us  see  how  such  strifes  were 
soothed  and  fused  into  a  noble  harmony. 

The  epistle  of  James  comes  to  the  bar  of  criticism  under 
like  conditions  with  that  of  Peter.  The  difficulties  of  detail 
alleged  against  it  are  of  little  account.  A  more  serious  matter 
is  the  broad  charge  that  writings  of  fictitious  authorship  were 
easily  produced  at  a  time  when  there  was  no  sound  test  of 
genuineness,  and  no  scruple  at  pious  frauds.  For  writers  like 
Paul,  who  by  common  consent  have  left  us  genuine  writings, 
and  whose  biography  is  fairly  well  known,  there  are  two  sure 
tests,  —  comparison  of  doubtful  works  with  those  universally 
acknowledged  genuine,  and  inquiry  whether  the  document  in 
dispute  answers  to  the  biographical  data  in  our  possession. 
But  if  the  case  is  that  of  an  author  from  whom  we  have  only 
a  few  doubtful  pages,  and  whose  life  is  little  known,  we  must 
decide  mostly  on  grounds  of  feeling,  which  are  not  impera- 
tive. If  we  are  of  easy  judgment,  we  may  take  much  that  is 
false  for  true  ;  if  too  rigid,  we  may  reject  much  that  is  true  as 
false.  For  such  questions  the  theologian,  who  thinks  to  walk 
by  certainties,  is  (I  say  again)  a  bad  judge.  The  critical  his- 
torian has  a  quiet  conscience  when  he  has  done  his  best  to 
mark  the  various  steps  of  certain,  probable,  plausible,  possible. 
If  at  all  capable,  he  may  succeed  in  being  true  in  tlie  general 
colour,  while  as  to  special  statements  he  makes  free  with  his 
question-marks  and  his  may-he's. 

One  thing  I  have  found  in  favour  of  writings  too  strictly 
thrown  out  by  critics  of  a  certain  school,  —  such  as  the  first 
epistle  of  Peter,  with  those  of  James  and  Jude,  —  is  the  way 
they  fit  in  with  a  narrative  organically  knit  together.  While 
the  second  ascribed  to  Peter,  with  those  alleged  to  be  from 
Paul  to  Timothy  and  Titus,  have  no  place  in  the  pattern  of  a 
connected  story,  the  three  I  have  mentioned  fit  themselves  to 
it  (as  I  may  say)  of  their  own  accord.  The  features  of  detail 
in  them  anticipate  facts  known  through  outside  testimony, 
and  are  embraced  easily  among  them.  "  Peter  "  well  corre- 
sponds with  what  we  know,  chiefly  from  Tacitus,  of  the  situa- 
tion of  Christians  at  Rome  about  A. D.  63  or  64.     ''James," 


JAMES;    PSEUDO-APOSTOLIC  WRITINGS.  7 

again,  is  a  perfect  picture  of  the  Ehionim  at  Jerusalem  in  the 
years  just  before  the  great  revolt,  quite  like  the  information 
given  us  by  Josephus.^  There  is  nothing  to  be  gained  by  a 
theory  that  it  was  written  by  another  James,  not  "  the  Lord's 
brother."  True,  this  epistle  was  not  admitted,  in  the  early 
centuries,  so  unanimously  as  that  of  Peter ;  2  but  the  hesitation 
would  seem  to  have  been  rather  on  dogmatic  grounds  than  on 
critical.  The  Greek  Fathers  had  little  liking  for  the  Jewish- 
Christian  writings  :  that  is  the  real  reason. 

It  may  be  remarked,  as  to  the  evidence  regarding  these 
minor  apostolic  writings,  that  they  were  composed  before 
the  fall  of  Jerusalem.  This  event  so  altered  the  situation 
as  between  Jew  and  Christian  that  we  can  easily  distinguish 
between  a  document  later  than  the  catastrophe  of  a.  d.  TO 
and  one  belonging  to  the  period  while  Herod's  temple  was 
yet  standing.  Descriptions  which  clearly  refer  to  class-jeal- 
ousies in  Jerusalem  society,  such  as  we  find  in  "  James " 
(v.  1-6),  would  be  unmeaning  if  made  later  than  the  revolt 
of  A.  D.  QQ,  which  ended  the  rule  of  the  Sadducees. 

From  the  fact  that  there  were  pseudo-apostolic  writings  — 
such  as  the  letters  to  Timothy  and  Titus,  "  Second  Peter," 
and  the  epistle  of  Barnabas,  whose  practice  is  to  imitate 
or  dilute  older  compositions  —  it  follows  that  there  were 
writings  genuinely  apostolic  held  in  reverence,  which  it  was 
sought  to  multiply .2  As  every  Arabic  poet  of  the  classic 
period  had  his  Kasida,  a  complete  expression  of  his  person- 
ality, so  every  apostle  had  his  "  epistle,"  more  or  less  gen- 
uine, which  was  supposed  to  preserve  the  fine  flower  of  his 
thought. 

I  have  elsewhere  spoken  of  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews.*    I 

1  See  below,  pp.  52-53. 

2  Clem.  Rom.  1  Cor.  x.,  xi.  (cf.  Jas.  ii.  21,  23,  25);  "  Hennas,"  Mand. 
xii.  5  (cf.  Jas.  iv.  7);  Iren.  Adv.  Hcer.  iv.  16,  2  (cf.  Jas.  ii.  23);  these 
writers  seem  to  have  known  the  epistle.  Origeu  {In  Joh.  xix.  6),  Euse- 
bius  {H.  E.  ii.  23),  and  Jerome  {De  viris  illustr.  2)  express  doubts. 

*  See  2  Pet.  iii.  15,  16,  where  the  Pauline  epistles  are  expressly 
named  as  sacred  writings. 

*  Saint  Paul,  Introd.,  pp.  52-61. 


8  INTRODUCTION, 

have  shown  that  this  work  is  not  by  Paul,  as  has  been  held 
in  some  lines  of  Christian  tradition ;  and  that  its  probable 
date  may  be  fixed  at  about  A.  d.  66.  1  have  now  to  consider 
whether  we  may  be  sure  of  its  real  author,  where  it  was  writ- 
ten, and  who  were  the  "  Hebrews  "  to  whom  by  title  it  is 
addressed. 

Circumstantial  points  are  these :  The  writer  speaks  to  the 
church  addressed  in  the  tone  of  a  well-known  master,  —  in- 
deed, almost  in  a  tone  of  reproach.  The  church  has  long 
since  accepted  the  faith,  but  has  fallen  away  in  doctrine ;  so 
that  it  needs  elementary  instruction,  and  cannot  comprehend 
the  higher  theology.^  Further,  this  church  has  shown  and 
still  shows  proofs  of  courage  and  devotion,  especially  in  service 
to  the  saints.  ["  Ye  have  ministered  to  the  saints  and  do 
minister."]  It  had  endured  cruel  persecutions  in  the  day 
when  it  received  the  full  light  of  faith,  when  it  was  "  made 
a  gazing  stock."  ^  That  was  but  a  little  while  ago ;  for  those 
now  members  of  the  church  had  part  in  the  merits  of  that 
persecution  —  sympathising  with  the  confessors,  visiting  those 
in  prison,  and,  above  all,  bearing  bravely  the  loss  of  their 
goods.  In  that  trial,  however,  there  were  some  deserters,  and 
there  was  question  whether  such  apostates  could  rejoin  the 
church.  It  would  seem  that  some  were  even  now  in  prison 
(xiii.  3),  There  have  been  noble  leaders  {rj'yovfievoL)^  preachers 
of  the  Word,  whose  end  was  glorious  and  inspiring  (xiii.  7). 
But  still  there  are  chiefs  well  known  to  the  writer  (ver.  17,  24), 
who  has  himself  had  knowledge  of  the  church,  and  seems  to 
have  held  a  high  post  of  service  in  it;  he  means  to  return 
to  it,  and  wishes  his  return  to  be  as  soon  as  possible  (ver.  19). 
He  and  those  to  whom  he  writes  are  acquainted  with  Timothy, 
who  has  been  a  prisoner  in  some  other  place,  but  is  now  at 
liberty ;  he  hopes  that  Timothy  may  come  and  join  him,  that 
they  may  visit  this  church  of  the  "  Hebrews  "  together  (ver. 
23).     The  epistle  ends  with  the  words,  "  Those  away  from 

1  See  V.  11-14;  vi.  11,  12;  x.  24,  25;  xiii.,  throughout. 

2  e^arpiCoii^voi  ("exhibited  on  the  stage"),  x.  33-34;  xii.  4-8,  23. 


''Hebrews:'  9 

(a-TTo)  Italy  salute  you,"  which  must  mean  those  who  are  just 
now  absent  from  Italy. ^ 

What  chiefly  distinguishes  this  writer  is  his  incessant  use  of 
the  [Jewish]  scriptures,  with  a  subtile  and  allegorical  mode  of 
exposition,  and  a  Greek  style  more  ample,  more  classic,  less 
dry,  but  also  less  natural  than  that  in  most  apostolic  writ- 
ings. He  has  slight  acquaintance  with  the  ritual  of  the  temple 
at  Jerusalem  (ix.  1-5),  which,  however,  strongly  impresses 
him.  He  uses  only  the  Alexandrian  version,  and  reasons 
from  errors  in  the  Greek  copyists  (x.  5,  37,  38).  He  is  not  a 
Jew  of  Jerusalem,  but  a  Hellenist,  related  to  the  school  of  Paul 
(iii.  23)  ;  and  represents  himself  as  having  been  a  hearer,  not 
of  Jesus,  but  of  those  who  had  heard  him,  and  as  a  witness  of 
the  "  signs  and  wonders  "  manifested  by  the  apostles  by  "  the 
gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit "  (ii.  3,  4).  Still,  he  has  high  rank  in 
the  church  :  he  speaks  with  authority  (v.  11, 12  ;  vi.  11,  12 ; 
X.  24,  25 ;  xiii.  pass.)  ;  is  held  in  great  respect  by  those  to 
whom  he  writes  (xiii.  19-24);  and  Timothy  seems  to  be  his 
inferior.  The  mere  fact  of  addressing  an  epistle  to  an  im- 
portant church  shows  him  to  be  a  man  of  consequence,  one 
of  name  and  high  standing  among  the  apostles. 

Still,  all  this  is  not  enough  to  determine  the  authorship. 
It  has  been  variously  ascribed  to  Barnabas,  Luke,  Silas, 
Apollos,  and  Clement  of  Rome.  The  likeliest  of  all  is  Bar- 
nabas. This  has  the  authority  of  Tertullian,  who  speaks  of 
it  as  a  well-known  fact ;  ^  and  it  is  contradicted  by  not  a 
single  feature  offered  by  the  epistle.  Barnabas  was  a  Hel- 
lenist of  Cyprus,  at  once  linked  with  Paul  and  independent 

^  Compare  ol  iv  rfj  'Ao-ig,  2  Tim.  1.  15;  17  ev  Ba^vXayvi  <rvv€\€KTr),  i.  Pet. 
V.  13.     (But  see  Acts  xvii.  13.) 

^  De  Pudic.  20:  Exstat  enim  et  Barnabce  titulus  ad  Hebrceos.  These 
words  show  that  the  manuscript  in  the  hands  of  Tertullian  was  inscribed 
with  the  name  of  Barnabas.  (Cf.  Jerome,  De  viris  illustr.  5.)  Tertul- 
lian's  assertion  has  been  wrongly  regarded  as  a  mere  conjecture,  put 
forth  to  give  authority  to  a  writing  that  favoured  his  Montanist  notions. 
On  the  argument  from  the  stichometry  of  the  Codex  claromontanus,  see 
Introd.  to  '*  Saint  Paul,"  note  on  pp.  53-4.  The  "epistle  of  Barnabas," 
commonly  so  called,  is  apocryphal,  written  about  a.  d.  110. 


10  INTRODUCTION, 

of  him,  known  and  esteemed  by  all.  This  view,  further,  sug- 
gests a  reason  for  ascribing  the  composition  to  Paul :  it  was 
the  destiny  of  Barnabas  to  be  in  a  manner  lost  in  the  halo 
of  the  great  apostle;  and,  if  he  did  leave  any  writing,  as 
seems  not  unlikely,  we  should  naturally  seek  it  among  those 
of  Paul. 

The  church  to  which  this  letter  is  addressed  may  be  fixed 
on  with  some  likelihood.  From  what  has  been  already  said, 
our  choice  lies,  with  little  doubt,  between  Rome  and  Jerusa- 
lem. Alexandria  has  been  suggested,  but  on  slight  grounds. 
First,  there  is  no  proof  that  Alexandria  had  a  church  as  early 
as  A.  D.  ^^,  Even  if  it  had,  it  could  have  no  relation  with 
the  school  of  Paul,  or  any  knowledge  of  Timothy  ;  while  such 
passages  as  v.  12,  x.  32-34,  and  others  would  be  wholly  in- 
appropriate. The  title,  "  to  the  Hebrews,"  makes  us  think  at 
once  of  Jerusalem.^  But  this  is  not  enough.  Passages  like 
V.  11-14,  vi.  11, 12,  and  even  vi.  10  ("  minister  to  the  saints  ")2 
are  nonsense  if  we  suppose  them  addressed  by  a  follower  of 
the  apostles  to  the  mother  church  of  all,  the  source  of  all 
instruction.  What  is  said  of  Timothy  in  xiii.  23  is  no  more 
intelligible  ;  persons  so  committed  as  were  the  writer  and 
Timothy  to  the  party  of  Paul  could  not  have  sent  to  that 
church  a  missive  implying  special  intimacy  with  their  affairs. 
How,  for  instance,  could  the  writer  —  with  his  exegesis 
founded  wholly  on  the  Septuagint,  his  imperfect  Jewish 
knowledge,  his  slight  acquaintance  with  the  temple  service 
—  have  dared  to  lecture  so  loftily  those  past  masters  of  the 
field,  men  who  talked  Hebrew  (very  nearly),  who  lived  every 
day  close  to  the  Temple,  and  who  knew  much  better  than  he 
all  he  could  say  to  them  ?  How,  indeed,  could  he  address 
them  as  catechumens,  barely  initiated,  and  incapable  of  deep 
theology  ?  On  the  otlier  hand,  if  we  suppose  those  addressed 
to  be  the  faithful  in  Rome,  all  fits  to  a  marvel.     Such  pas- 

1  Compare  Acts  vi.  1  ;  Iren.  Adv.  Hcer.  III.  i.  1;  Euseb.  H.  E.  iii. 
24,  25. 

^  Compare  Rom.  xv.  25.  This  signifies  the  service  due  from  all  other 
churches  to  that  at  Jerusalem,  but  would  hardly  befit  this  latter. 


''Hebrews:'  u 

sages  as  vi.  10,  x.  32-34,  xiii.  3,  7,  allude  to  Nero's  persecu- 
tion ;  xiii.  7  refers  to  the  death  of  Peter  and  Paul ;  the 
expression,  "  those  away  from  Italy,"  is  fully  justified,  since 
it  is  natural  that  the  writer  should  send  to  those  in  Rome 
the  salutations  of  the  Italian  colony  about  him.  Add  that 
the  first  epistle  of  the  Roman  Clement  (certainly  a  Roman 
composition)  borrows  consecutively  from  "  Hebrews,"  and 
evidently  models  its  exposition  upon  that.^ 

One  difiiculty  remains  :  Why  does  the  title  say  "  to  the 
Hebrews  "  ?  Such  titles,  we  know,  are  not  always  apostolic  : 
they  were  sometimes  late  additions,  and  even  erroneous,  as  we 
see  in  the  case  of  "  Ephesians."  "  Hebrews "  was  written, 
under  the  stress  of  persecution,  to  the  church  that  suffered 
most.  In  several  places  (as  in  xiii.  23)  the  writer  evidently 
expresses  himself  guardedly.  Perhaps  the  inscription  "  to  the 
Hebrews  "  was  a  password,  to  save  the  letter  from  being  put 
to  an  evil  use.  Possibly  the  title  came  from  the  letter's  being 
regarded  in  the  second  century  as  a  confutation  of  the  Ebi- 
onites,  who  were  called  "  Judaisers."  It  is  noteworthy  that 
the  church  of  Rome  always  had  special  light  on  this  epistle  ; 
here  it  first  appeared,  and  here  it  was  first  brought  into  use. 
While  Alexandria  is  ready  to  call  it  Paul's,  the  church  at  Rome 
always  maintains  that  it  is  not  his,  and  that  it  is  wrongly 
joined  to  his  genuine  writings.'-* 

From  what  place  was  "  Hebrews  "  written  ?  This  is  harder 
to  answer.  The  expression  "  tliose  away  from  Italy  "  shows 
that  the  writer  was  not  in  that  country.  It  is  certain,  too, 
that  he  wrote  from  an  important  town  where  there  was  a 
colony  of  Italian  Christians  closely  allied  with  those  of  Rome, 
who  had  probably  escaped  the  persecution  of  a.  d.  64.  We 
shall  see  that  the  stream  of  those  wlio  so  escaped  flowed  towards 
Ephesus,  where  the  church  had  had  as  its  first  nucleus  two 
Jews  from  Rome,  Aquila  and  Priscilla,  and  had  always  con- 
tinued in  direct  relations  with  Rome.    Thus  we  are  led  to  think 

^  Compare  chap.  17  with  xi.  37;  chap.  36  with  i.  3,  5,  7,  13;  chap.  9 
with  xi.  5,  7;  chap.  12  with  xi.  31. 
3  See  "Saint  Paul,"  p.  Mi. 


12  INTRODUCTION, 

that  it  was  here  the  epistle  was  written.  The  words  in  xiii. 
23,  it  is  true,  are  perplexing  in  that  case  :  in  what  city,  neither 
Rome  nor  Ephesus,  yet  closely  connected  with  both,  had 
Timothy  been  imprisoned  ?  Whatever  we  may  conjecture,  this 
is  a  riddle  hard  to  answer. 

The  most  important  document  of  this  period  is  the  Apoca- 
lypse. An  attentive  reading  of  chaps,  xv.-xvii.  will  show,  I 
think,  that  its  date  is  fixed  more  positively  than  that  of  any 
other  writing  in  the  canon.^  It  may  even  be  determined  within 
a  few  days.  The  place  where  it  was  written  may  also  be 
plausibly  assigned.  Who  was  its  author  is  far  more  uncertain. 
As  to  this,  I  think,  we  cannot  speak  with  confidence.  The 
writer  gives  his  name  at  the  very  beginning:  "  I,  John,  your 
brother  and  companion  in  tribulation  and  in  the  kingdom  and 
patience  of  Christ."  ^  But  here  two  questions  occur :  1.  Is 
the  claim  genuine,  or  is  it  one  of  the  pious  frauds  common  to 
all  apocalyptic  writers  ?  In  other  words,  is  it  not  an  anony- 
mous writing  ascribed  to  John  the  apostle,  as  a  man  of  highest 
authority  in  the  churches,  whose  views  are  here  communicated 
in  visions  ?  2.  Granting  the  claim  to  be  sincere,  is  not  the 
writer  another  John  than  the  apostle  ? 

To  begin  with  the  second  question,  as  the  easier  to  decide. 
The  John  who  speaks  or  is  thought  to  speak  in  the  Apocalypse 
expresses  himself  with  such  emphasis ;  he  is  so  sure  of  being 
known  and  of  not  being  confounded  with  any  other ;  he  knows 
so  well  the  secret  things  of  the  chui-ches,  and  meets  them  with 
so  firm  a  bearing,  —  that  we  can  hardly  fail  to  see  in  him  an 

^  The  theory  of  Vischer,  accepted  by  Harnack  and  others  (see  "  Life 
of  Jesus,"  note  on  page  477),  is  that  the  body  of  the  Apocalypse  —  iv.  1- 
xxii.  5  —  is  a  Jewish  composition,  adopted  and  probably  translated  from 
a  Hebrew  original  by  some  Christian  writer  near  the  end  of  the  first  cen- 
tury, who  prefixed  the  first  three  chapters  and  interpolated  numerous  brief 
passages  to  adapt  it  to  Christian  uses.  A  valuable  criticism  of  this  view, 
defending  the  general  unity  of  the  composition,  but  excepting  from  this 
unity  a  series  of  visions  beginning  with  chapter  xi.  was  contributed  by 
M.  Louis  Auguste  Sabatier  to  the  Revue  de  Theologie  et  de  Philosophie: 
Paris,  Lihrairie  Fischhacher,  1888,  pp.  37.  —  Ed. 

2  Rev.  i.  9;  see  also  1,  2,  4;  xxii.  8. 


JOHN  THE  ELDER.  13 

apostle,  or  else  a  dignitary  of  very  high  rank  in  the  Church. 
But  in  the  second  half  of  the  first  century  there  was  no  other 
of  that  name  who  approached  such  dignity.  John  Mark  is 
here  quite  out  of  the  question,  whatever  Hitzig  may  say. 
Mark  never  had  consecutive  relations  with  the  churches  in 
Asia,  such  as  to  embolden  him  to  address  them  in  this  tone. 
There  is,  indeed,  one  "  John  the  Elder,"  a  dubious  personage, 
a  sort  of  double  of  the  apostle,  who  haunts  like  a  spectre  the 
record  of  the  church  at  Ephesus,  and  gives  much  trouble  to 
the  critics.  1  Thougli  his  very  existence  has  been  denied,  and 
though  we  cannot  positively  refute  the  theory  of  those  who 
make  him  a  personified  shadow  of  the  apostle,  I  incline  to 
think  that  he  had  an  identity  apart  ;2  but  I  absolutely  deny 
that  he  wrote  the  Apocalypse  in  a.  d.  68  or  69,  as  maintained 
by  Ewald.  Such  a  man  would  not  have  been  known  to  us 
merely  through  an  obscure  passage  of  Papias  or  an  apologetic 
writing  of  Dionysius.  We  should  find  his  name  in  the  Gospels, 
or  Acts,  or  an  Epistle.  He  would  be  a  man  from  Jerusalem. 
The  writer  of  the  Apocalypse  is  the  best  versed  in  Scripture, 
most  attached  to  the  Temple,  most  Hebraic,  of  all  the  New 
Testament  writers.  Such  a  man  cannot  have  had  his  training 
out  of  Palestine ;  he  must  have  been  a  native  of  Judaea  ;  at  the 
bottom  of  his  heart  he  clings  to  the  Church  of  Israel.  If  there 
was  any  such  person  as  John  the  Elder,  he  was  a  disciple  of 
John  in  his  extreme  old  age.  Admitting  that  the  passage  in 
the  "  Apostolical  Constitutions  "  (vii.  46)  refers  to  him,  and  that 

^  See  •*  Life  of  Jesus,"  p.  58,  note. 

2  See  Papias  (Euseb.  iii.  39)  and  Dionysius  of  Alexandria  (id.  vii.  25). 
These  two  passages  are  not  proof.  The  latter,  in  fact,  deduces  his  opinion 
a  priori  from  the  difference  [in  style]  between  the  Apocalypse  and  the 
Fourth  Gospel,  finding  confirmation  in  two  tombs  which  '*  are  said  to 
have  existed  at  Ephesus,  each  bearing  the  name  of  John."  The  passage 
of  Papias  is  vague ;  at  all  events  it  needs  correction.  That  in  the  Apos- 
tolical Constitutions  is  of  weak  authority.  Eusebius  (iii.  39)  simply 
brings  together  the  statements  of  Papias  and  Dionysius,  not  confirming 
the  existence  of  the  two  tombs.  Jerome  (De  viris  illustr.  9,  18)  says 
there  were  two  there,  but  that  many  regarded  them  as  being  two  me- 
morials of  the  apostle. 


14  INTRODUCTION, 

it  has  any  value,  he  would  be  the  apostle's  successor  in  the 
episcopate  of  Ephesus.  Papias  seems  to  have  been  close  beside 
him,  at  least  his  contemporary .^  We  may  even  admit  that  he 
sometimes  held  the  pen  for  his  master,  and  that  he  may  have 
been  the  composer  of  the  Fourth  Gospel  and  the  First  Epistle  of 
John.  The  second  and  third  (so  called),  in  which  the  writer 
calls  himself  "  the  Elder,"  would  seem  to  be  his  own  work, 
acknowledged  as  such.^  But  surely,  if  we  admit  that  John 
the  Elder  counts  for  anything  in  the  second  class  of  Johannine 
writings  (the  Gospel  and  Epistles),  he  has  no  part  in  the 
composition  of  the  Apocalypse.  If  anything  is  plain,  it  is  that 
the  two  cannot  have  come  from  the  same  hand.  This  was 
evident  to  Dionysius  of  Alexandria,  in  the  latter  half  of  the 
third  century,  whose  essay  on  the  point  is  a  model  of  learned 
and  critical  dissertation.^  Of  all  the  New  Testament  writings, 
the  Apocalypse  is  the  most  Jewish,  and  the  Fourth  Gospel  the 
least  so.  Thus  the  word  "  Jew,"  which  in  that  Gospel  always 
means  "  enemy  of  Jesus,"  is  in  the  Apocalypse  the  highest 
title  of  honour  (ii.  9,  iii.  9).  Admitting  that  the  Apostle  John 
is  the  author  of  any  of  the  writings  traditionally  ascribed  to 
him,  it  is  certainly  the  Apocalypse,  not  the  Gospel.  The  former 
corresponds  perfectly  to  the  settled  opinion  which  he  seems  to 
have  held  in  the  dispute  between  Paul  and  the  Jewish  Chris- 
tians, while  the  latter  does  not.  The  efforts  made  in  the  third 
century  by  some  of  the  Greek  Fathers  to  assign  the  Apocalypse 
to  "  John  the  Elder  "  *  result  from  the  aversion  then  felt  for 
that  book  among  the  orthodox  teachers.^  They  could  not 
endure  that  an  apostle  should  be  thought  the  writer  of  a  book 

^  Euseb.  iii.  39.  We  should,  as  it  appears,  read  in  this  passage  "the 
disciples  of  the  Lord's  disciples  say;  "  since  Aristion  and  John  the  Elder 
are  represented  as  living  in  the  time  of  Papias,  and  do  not  stand  in  the 
same  class  with  the  apostles  ("  disciples  of  the  Lord").  In  any  case,  Eu- 
sebius  goes  beyond  the  mark  in  inferring  that  Papias  himself  was  a  listener 
to  Aristion  and  "  John  the  Elder." 

2  All  these  points  will  be  further  considered  in  the  succeeding  volume. 

^  Eusebius,  vii.  25. 

*  Dion-Alex,  in  Euseb.  vii.  25  (cf.  iii.  39) ;  Jerome,  De  viris  illustr.  9. 

*  See  "  Life  of  Jesus,"  p.  290,  note  3;  also  below,  p.  355. 


PSEUDONYMOUS  WRITINGS,  15 

whose  style  tliej  found  barbarous  and  its  spirit  stamped  with 
Jewish  bitterness.  Their  opinion  was  an  induction  a  priori^ 
worthless  in  itself,  expressing  neither  tradition  nor  critical 
judgment. 

If,  then,  the  expression  "  I,  John,"  in  the  first  chapter,  is 
genuine,  the  Apocalypse  is  certainly  from  the  hand  of  the 
Apostle  John.  But  it  is  of  the  essence  of  an  apocalypse 
to  be  pseudonymous.  The  writers  of  "  Daniel,"  "  Enoch," 
"Baruch,"and  "  Esdras,"  all  assume  those  names  as  their 
own.  The  Church  of  the  second  century  accepted  an  apoca- 
lypse of  Peter,  certainly  apocryphal,  just  as  they  did  that  of 
John.i  If  the  writer  gives  his  true  name  in  the  Apocalypse 
of  our  canon,  it  is  a  surprising  exception  to  the  rule.  Let  us 
grant  the  exception :  in  fact,  this  book  differs  essentially  from 
other  similar  writings  that  have  come  down  to  us.  Most  of 
these  are  ascribed  to  writers  who  flourished  (or  were  supposed 
to  flourish)  five  or  six  centuries,  or  even  [as  Enoch,  "  the 
seventh  from  Adam  "  ]  some  thousands  of  years  before.  Those 
of  the  second  century  were  ascribed  to  men  of  the  apostolic 
age.  Tlie  "Shepherd"  and  the  pseudo-Clementines  are  some 
fifty  or  sixty  years  after  their  assumed  writers.  So  it  was, 
probably,  with  the  apocalypse  of  Peter ;  at  least  nothing  shows 
that  it  makes  any  exception  as  to  topic  or  author.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  Apocalypse  of  the  canon,  if  it  is  pseudony- 
mous, seems  to  have  been  ascribed  to  John  in  his  lifetime,  or 
very  soon  after  his  death.  Were  it  not  for  the  first  three 
chapters,  this  would  be  strictly  possible.  But  can  we  suppose 
that  whoever  assumed  the  name  had  the  boldness  to  address 
his  apocryphal  work  to  the  "  seven  churches  "  which  stood  in 
near  relations  with  the  apostle  ?  Or  if  we  deny  these  rela- 
tions, as  Scholten  does,  we  fall  into  a  still  greater  difficulty ; 
for  then  we  must  admit  that  the  composer,  with  unparalleled 
fatuity,  in  writing  to  churches  that  had  never  known  the 
apostle,  represents  him  as  having  been  at  Patmos,  close  by 

1  See  Canon  of  Muratori,  lines  70-72,  and  stichometry  of  the  Codex 
claromontanus  in  Credner,  Gesch.  der  neutest.  Kanon,  p.  177. 


i6  INTRODUCTION, 

Ephesus,  —  in  fact,  so  near,  and  so  dependent  on  its  port,  that 
if  he  did  go  there  it  must  have  been  by  way  of  Ephesus,  — 
as  acquainted  with  their  nearest  secrets,  and  as  holding  full 
authority  over  them.  Would  these  churches,  which  (as  Schol- 
ten  holds)  well  knew  that  John  had  never  been  in  or  near 
Asia,  have  let  themselves  be  taken  in  by  so  crude  a  pretence  ? 
One  thing  stands  out  clear  in  any  hypothesis,  —  that  the 
Apostle  John  was  for  some  years  the  head  of  the  churches 
in  Asia.^  This  being  granted,  it  is  hard  not  to  admit  that 
he  was  really  the  author  of  this  book ;  for,  since  its  date  is 
precisely  fixed,  we  find  no  room  for  forgery.  If  the  apostle 
was  living  in  Asia  in  January,  a.  d.  69,  or  had  merely  been 
there,  the  first  four  chapters  are  unthinkable  as  the  work 
of  another  hand.  Supposing  (as  Scholten  does)  that  he  died 
at  the  beginning  of  this  year,  which  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  the  fact,  we  do  not  escape  the  difficulty.  The  book  is 
written  as  if  the  revelator  were  still  alive;  it  is  to  be  cir- 
culated at  once  among  the  Asiatic  churches ;  if  the  apostle 
were  dead  the  fraud  would  be  too  glaring.  What  would 
they  have  said  at  Ephesus  in  February,  at  receiving  such  a 
book,  claiming  to  be  from  an  apostle  whom  they  knew  to  be 
no  longer  living,  and  whom  (as  Scholten  thinks)  they  had 
never  seen  ? 

The  book  itself,  on  a  closer  view,  rather  confirms  than 
weakens  this  opinion.  The  Apostle  John  seems,  next  after 
James,  to  have  been  the  most  ardent  of  the  Judaising  Cliris- 
tians,  while  the  Apocalypse  breathes  a  bitter  hatred  against 
Paul  and  all  who  were  lax  in  keeping  the  Jewish  Law.  The 
book  strikingly  reflects  the  violent  and  fanatical  temper  of  this 
apostle  (see  below,  chap.  xv.).  It  is  indeed  the  work  of  that 
"son  of  thunder,"  that  stormy  Boanerges,  who  would  have 
forbidden  the  use  of  his  Master's  name  to  any  outside  the 
narrow  circle  of  the  disciples ;  who,  if  he  could,  would  have 
rained  fire  and  brimstone  upon  the  inhospitable  Samaritans. 
The  description  of  the  celestial  Court,  with  its  material  splen- 

1  See  Appendix  at  the  end  of  this  volume. 


JEWISH  SPIRIT  AND  STYLE.  17 

dour  of  thrones  and  crowns,  is  indeed  that  of  one  who,  when 
young,  had  aspired  to  sit  with  his  brother  on  thrones  at  the 
right  and  left  of  the  Messiah-King.  The  writer  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse has  his  mind  engrossed  by  the  two  objects,  Rome  (chaps, 
xiii.-xviii.)  and  Jerusalem  (chaps,  xi.-xii.).  He  appears  to 
have  seen  Rome,  with  its  temples,  statues,  and  lavish  impe- 
rial idolatry ;  and  we  may  easily  suppose  that  John  journeyed 
thither  in  company  with  Peter.  What  regards  Jerusalem  is 
yet  more  striking.  The  writer  constantly  returns  upon  "  the 
beloved  city,"  thinks  only  of  her,  is  familiar  with  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  church  there  during  the  Jewish  revolt,  as  we  see 
in  the  fine  image  of  the  woman  and  her  flight  into  the  wilder- 
ness (xii.  13-17) :  we  feel  that  he  had  been  a  pillar  of  this 
church,  an  enthusiastic  devotee  of  the  Jewish  party.  The  tra- 
dition of  Asia  Minor  seems,  just  so,  to  have  kept  the  memory 
of  John  as  that  of  a  rigid  Judaiser.  In  the  Paschal  contro- 
versy, which  so  vexed  the  Church  during  the  latter  half  of 
the  second  century,  the  churches  in  Asia  rely  chiefly  on  the 
authority  of  John  in  celcb)-ating  Easter  on  the  fourteenth  of 
Nisan,  according  to  the  Jewish  law.  Polycarp  in  160  and 
Poly  crates  in  190  appeal  to  the  same  authority  to  defend  their 
antique  custom  against  the  innovators  who,  relying  on  the 
Fourth  Gospel,  insisted  that  Jesus,  "  the  true  passover,"  did 
not  eat  the  paschal  lamb  with  his  disciples  the  night  before 
his  death,  and  who  transferred  the  feast  to  the  day  of  the 
resurrection.^ 

The  language  of  the  Apocalypse  is  a  further  reason  for 
ascribing  the  book  to  a  member  of  the  church  at  Jerusalem. 
It  is  wholly  different  from  that  in  the  other  New  Testament 
books.  It  was  doubtless  written  in  Greek ,2  but  in  Greek 
moulded  upon  Hebrew,  —  Hebrew  in  its  style  of  thought,  hardly 
to  be  understood  and  felt  by  those  ignorant  of  Hebrew.  Be- 
sides sacramental  terms  (ix.  11,  xvi.  16)  and  "the  number  of 
the  beast,"  which  are  in  Hebrew,  like  forms  appear  in  every 

^  See  Euseb.  v.  24. 

2  Thus,  "  I  am  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega."  The  weights  and  measures 
are  Greek. 

2 


i8  INTRODUCTION, 

line.i  The  writer  is  surprisingly  saturated  with  the  prophetic 
writings  and  earlier  apocalypses ;  clearly,  he  knows  them  by 
heart.  He  is  familiar  with  the  Greek  version  of  the  [Jewish] 
sacred  books ;  but  in  his  citations  the  Hebrew  text  comes  into 
his  mind.2  How  different  from  the  style  of  Paul,  Luke,  the 
writer  of  "  Hebrews,"  or  even  the  Synoptics !  Only  a  man 
who  had  passed  years  at  Jerusalem,  in  the  schools  about  the 
Temple,  could  be  so  steeped  in  the  Scripture,  or  share  so 
keenly  the  passions  and  hopes  of  that  rebellious  people,  with 
its  hatred  of  Rome. 

Another  point  not  to  be  overlooked  is  that  the  Apocalypse 
has  some  features  kindred  with  those  of  the  Fourth  Gospel 
and  the  Johannine  epistles.  Thus,  the  expression  '*  the  Word 
of  God  "  (xix.  13),  so  characteristic  of  the  Fourth  Gospel,  is 
first  found  here.  The  image  of  "  living  waters  "  is  common 
to  the  two.^  The  expression  "  Lamb  of  God  "  in  the  Fourth 
Gospel  (i.  29,  36)  recalls  the  frequent  designation  of  Christ  as 
"  Lamb  "  in  the  Apocalypse.  Both  apply  to  the  Messiah  the 
words  "  me  whom  they  have  pierced  "  (Zech.  xii.  10),  and 
translate  it  in  the  same  way  (i.  7;  xix.  37),  —  a  rendering 
which  differs  from  the  Septuagint,  but  answers  to  the  Hebrew. 
I  by  no  means  infer  that  the  two  books  are  from  the  same 
hand ;  but  it  is  significant  that  the  Gospel  (which  surely  has 
some  connection  with  the  Apostle  John)  shows  in  its  style  and 
imagery  something  akin  to  a  book  which  there  are  strong 
grounds  for  attributing  to  that  apostle. 

Church  tradition  has  hesitated  upon  this  point.  Even  in 
the  middle  of  the  second  century  the  Apocalypse  seems  not  to 

1  Note  especially  i.  4,  where  the  Greek  translation  of  Jehovah  is  un- 
(leclined  [6  rjv:  like  "  I  Am  hath  sent  me."]. 

2  He  adopts  several  expressions  of  the  LXX.,  even  when  inaccurate: 
as  "tabernacle  of  witness"  for  assembly;  Almighty  (i.  8  :  TravroKparcop) 
for  "  Jehovah  of  hosts."  The  phrase,  "  He  shall  rule  them  (noifiavel)  with 
a  rod  of  iron  "  (Ps.  ii.  9),  several  times  quoted,  is  taken  from  the  LXX. 
rather  than  the  Hebrew  ["break  them"],  doubtless  because  it  was  so 
employed  in  the  Christian  Messianic  exegesis. 

3  xxi.  6,  xxii.  1,  17;  John  iv.  and  x. 


TESTIMONY  OF  THE  FATHERS,  19 

have  had  the  importance  we  might  expect  for  a  composition 
which  had  been  given  out  as  a  solemn  manifesto  from  the 
pen  of  an  apostle.  It  is  doubtful  whether  Papias  accepted  it 
as  the  writing  of  John.  He,  like  the  author  of  the  Apocalypse, 
was  a  millenarian  ;  but  he  seems  to  have  held  this  doctrine 
from  "  unwritten  tradition."  If  he  had  cited  this  book  in 
proof,  Eusebius  would  have  said  so,  eager  as  he  was  to  gather 
every  evidence  from  that  ancient  writer  as  to  the  apostolic 
record.  Nor  is  the  testimony  of  Andrew  or  of  Aretas  ^  clear 
upon  this  point.  The  author  of  the  "  Shepherd  of  Hermas," 
it  would  seem  (Vis.  iv.,  Sim.  ix.),  knew  and  imitated  the 
Apocalypse ;  but  it  does  not  follow  that  he  regarded  it  as  a 
work  of  the  apostle.  Justin  Martyr,  about  the  middle  of  the 
second  century,  first  plainly  asserts  that  authorship  (Tryph. 
81)  ;  but  he  came  forth  from  none  of  the  great  churches, 
and  is  accordingly  of  slight  authority  as  to  tradition.  Melito, 
who  commented  on  certain  passages  of  the  book,  Theophilus 
of  Antioch,  and  Apollonius,  who  used  it  freely  in  their  polem- 
ics,2  seem  to  have  had  the  same  opinion  of  it  with  Justin. 
The  same  may  be  said  of  the  Canon  of  Muratori.^  After  a.  d. 
200  the  general  opinion  is  that  the  "  John  "  of  the  Apocalypse 
is  really  the  apostle.  Irenajus  (Adv,  Hcer.^  pass.),  Tertullian 
(Adv.  Marc.  iii.  14,  iv.  5),  Clement  of  Alexandria  (Strom,  vi.  13; 
Feed.  ii.  12),  Origen  (^Matt.  xvi.  6 ;  Joh.  i.  14,  ii.  4  ;  cf.  Euseb. 
vi.  25),  Hippolytus  (^Philos.  vii.  36)  have  no  hesitation.  Still, 
the  contrary  opinion  is  constantly  upheld.  To  those  who 
parted  more  and  more  widely  from  the  early  Judaic  Chris- 
tianity and  millenarianism,  the  Apocalypse  was  a  dangerous 
book,  impossible  to  defend,  unworthy  of  an  apostle,  contain- 

^  Bishops  of  Csesarea  in  Cappadocia,  of  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries. 

*  See  Euseb.  iv.  24,  26 ;  v.  18;  Jerome,  De  viris  illustr.  24;  Melito,  De 
var.  (sub  fine) .  It  may  be  asked  if  the  name  "  John  "  in  Eusebius  is  not  an 
explanation  added  by  the  historian.  But,  as  he  puts  in  relief  the  pas- 
sages which  throw  doubt  on  the  genuineness  of  the  Apocalypse,  we  may 
infer  that  he  did  not  add  the  name  without  the  authority  of  the  writers 
mentioned. 

*  Lines  47,  48,  70-72  ;  the  latter  passage,  however,  seems  to  show  a 
tendency  to  regard  it  as  apocryphal. 


20  INTRODUCTION. 

ing  prophecies  that  were  never  fulfilled.  Marcion,  Cerdo,  and 
the  Gnostics  rejected  it  wholly ;  ^  the  "Apostolic  Constitutions  " 
omit  it  in  their  canon  (ii.  57,  vii.  47)  ;  the  old  Syriac  version 
{Pe^hito)  has  it  not.  The  opponents  of  the  Montanist  reveries, 
such  as  the  priest  Caius  (Euseb.  iii.  28)  ^  and  the  Alogi  (Epiph. 
li.  3,  4,  32-35)  claimed  to  find  it  the  work  of  Cerinthus.  Fi-: 
nally,  in  the  latter  half  of  the  third  century,  the  Alexandrian 
school,  in  hostility  to  the  millenarianism  revived  by  Valerian's 
persecution,  criticised  the  book  with  excessive  rigour  and 
undisguised  dislike  ;  Dionysius,  the  bishop,  proved  completely 
that  it  could  not  be  by  the  author  of  the  Fourth  Gospel,  and 
brought  into  vogue  the  theory  of  John  the  Elder.^  In  the 
fourth  century  the  Church  was  divided  in  opinion  (Euseb.  iii. 
24  ;  Jer.  Epist.  129).  Eusebius,  though  doubtful,  is  on  the 
whole  unfriendly  to  the  theory  that  it  was  written  by  the  son 
of  Zebedee.  Gregory  Nazianzen  and  almost  all  the  Christian 
scholars  of  his  time  refused  to  see  an  apostle's  handiwork  in 
a  book  so  sharply  opposed  to  their  taste,  their  notions  of 
apologetics,  and  their  prejudice  as  scholars.  We  may  say 
that,  if  this  party  had  had  control,  the  Apocalypse  would  have 
been  put  in  the  same  rank  with  the  "  Shepherd  "  and  the 
Antilegomena^  of  which  the  Greek  text  is  almost  wholly  lost. 
Happily,  it  was  too  late  for  such  exclusion  to  prevail.  Thanks 
to  able  opposition,  a  book  containing  bitter  attacks  on  Paul 
was  kept  side  by  side  with  Paul's  own  writings,  making  up  a 
volume  supposed  to  proceed  from  one  and  the  same  inspired 
source. 

Now,  has  this  obstinate  protest,  making  so  marked  a  feature 
in  Church  history,  any  great  weight  in  the  view  of  independ- 
ent criticism  ?    We  cannot  say.    Certainly  Dionysius  was  right 

1  Tert.  Adv.  Marc.  iv.  5;  Hcer.  6. 

2  Doubts  as  to  this  passage  are  removed  by  the  fragment  of  Dionysius 
Alex,  in  Euseb.  vii.  25,  and  by  what  Epiphanius  says  of  the  Alogi.  The 
rendering  "  as  if  he  were  a  great  apostle  "  is  inadmissible  (Comp.  Theo- 
doret,  Hcer.fah.  ii.  3). 

8  Euseb.  vii.  25.  The  question  had  probably  been  discussed  by  Ilip- 
polytus.     See  list  in  Corj).  inscr.  Gr.  8G13,  A.  3. 


HOSTILITY  TO   THE  BOOK.  21 

ill  maintaining  that  the  same  hand  could  not  have  written 
both  the  Fourth  Gospel  and  the  Apocalypse.  But,  in  face  of 
that  dilemma,  the  modern  critic  gives  a  different  answer  from 
that  of  the  third  century.  The  genuineness  of  the  Apocalypse 
is  far  more  probable  than  that  of  the  Gospel ;  and,  if  we  must 
assign  any  share  to  a  supposed  '*  John  the  Elder,"  that  share 
is  far  likelier  to  be  the  Gospel  and  epistles.  What  motive 
had  the  opponents  of  Montanism  in  the  third  century,  or 
those  Christians  of  the  fourth,  educated  in  the  Greek  schools 
of  Alexandria,  Caesarea,  and  Antioch,  to  deny  that  the  Apoca- 
lypse was  really  the  work  of  the  Apostle  John  ?  Was  it  a 
tradition  or  memory  preserved  in  the  churches  ?  Not  at  all. 
Their  reasons  were  purely  those  of  a  'priori  dogma.  First,  if 
the  Apocalypse  should  be  ascribed  to  the  apostle,  it  was  al- 
most impossible  for  a  man  of  sense  and  learning  to  admit  the 
genuineness  of  the  Fourth  Gospel,  and  to  doubt  this  would  be 
thought  an  attack  upon  Christianity  itself.  Besides,  the  sup- 
posed visions  of  John  seemed  to  be  a  source  of  errors  ever 
renewed,  —  of  a  perpetual  recrudescence  of  Judaic  Christianity, 
wild  prophecy,  and  rash  millenarianism.  What  reply  could 
be  made  to  the  Montanists  and  similar  mystics,  who  were  con- 
sistent believers  in  the  Apocalypse  ?  or  to  those  troops  of 
enthusiasts  who  rushed  upon  martyrdom,  intoxicated  by  the 
wild  poetry  of  that  old  book  of  the  year  69  ?  The  only  reply 
could  be  that  this  book,  the  fountain-head  of  all  their  delu- 
sions, was  not  the  work  of  an  apostle.  The  reason  that  led 
Caius,  Dionysius,  and  so  many  others  to  deny  that  the  Apoca- 
lypse was  from  John  was  precisely  that  which  leads  us  to  the 
opposite  conclusion.  The  book  is  Judaeo-Christian,  Ebionite ; 
it  is  the  work  of  an  enthusiast  drunk  with  hate  against  the 
Roman  empire  and  the  pagan  world  ;  it  forbids  all  reconcilia- 
tion with  that  empire  and  that  world  ;  its  messianic  doctrine 
is  purely  material ;  it  affirms  the  thousand  years*  reign  of 
saints  and  martyrs  ;  it  asserts  the  end  of  the  world  to  be  close 
at  hand.  These  reasons  —  in  which  reasonable  Christians, 
following  the  direction  of  Paul,  and  later  of  the  Alexandrian 
school,  found  unanswerable  difficulties  —  are  for  us  the  marks 


22  INTRODUCTION, 

of  antiquity  and  of  apostolic  genuineness.  We  are  not  fright- 
ened at  Ebionism  or  Montanism ;  as  simple  historians,  we  assert 
that  the  adherents  of  these  sects,  rejected  by  the  "  ortho- 
doxy "  of  their  time,  were  the  true  successors  of  Jesus,  of  the 
Twelve,  and  of  "  the  household  of  the  Master."  The  rational 
direction  which  Christianity  has  followed,  through  a  moderated 
gnosis,  the  belated  victory  of  the  Pauline  school,  and  above 
all  the  ascendency  of  such  men  as  Clement  of  Alexandria  and 
Origen,  should  not  make  us  forget  the  circumstances  of  its 
origin.  The  delusions,  impossibilities,  materialising  views, 
paradoxes,  monstrosities,  which  shocked  Eusebius  when  he 
read  the  old  Ebionite  and  millenarian  writers  like  Papias,  were 
the  real  primitive  Christianity.  That  the  dreams  of  these 
lofty  enthusiasts  might  become  a  religion  capable  to  live, 
men  of  good  sense  and  fine  intelligence  —  such  as  the  Greeks 
who  became  Christians  in  the  third  century  —  must  take  in 
hand  the  task  of  those  old  visionaries,  to  modify,  chastise,  and 
prune  it  of  its  overgrowth.  In  this  task  of  theirs,  the  most 
authentic  monuments  of  the  early  childlike  simplicity  became 
embarrassing  testimony,  which  they  tried  to  thrust  back  into 
oblivion.  That  happened  which  always  happens  at  the  origin 
of  a  religious  movement,  which  we  notice  in  particular  dur- 
ing the  first  century  or  two  of  the  Franciscan  Order :  the 
founders  were  overmastered  by  the  new-comers  ;  the  true  suc- 
cessors of  the  fathers  soon  came  to  be  "  suspects  "  and  here- 
tics. Hence,  as  we  often  have  occasion  to  insist,  the  favourite 
scriptures  of  the  Ebionite  and  millenarian  Judaeo-Christianity 
—  "  Enoch,"  "  Baruch,"  "  Assumption  of  Moses,"  "  Ascension 
of  Isaiah,"  the  fourth  Esdras,  the  "  Shepherd  of  Hermas,"  the 
"  Epistle  of  Barnabas "  —  were  better  preserved  in  Latin  or 
Oriental  versions  than  in  the  Greek  text.  Hence,  too,  the 
more  or  less  complete  loss  of  the  Greek  text  of  Papias  and 
Irenaeus.  The  "orthodox"  Greek  Church  has  always  shown 
itself  extremely  intolerant  of  such  books,  and  has  systemati- 
cally suppressed  them. 

Thus  the  reasons  for  ascribing  the  Apocalypse  to  the  Apostle 
John  remain  strong ;  and  I  think  that  those  who  shall  read 


JVAS  JOHN  THE  AUTHOR?  23 

this  history  will  be  struck  at  the  way  in  which  everything  is 
made  clear  and  connected  in  this  view.  But,  in  a  world  where 
notions  of  literary  property  were  so  different  from  ours,  a 
work  might  belong  to  an  author  in  various  degrees.  Did  the 
Apostle  John  himself  write  the  manifesto  of  a.  D.  69  ?  This 
we  may  surely  doubt.  It  is  enough  for  my  theory  if  he  knew 
it,  approved  it,  and  allowed  it  to  circulate  in  his  name.  Thus 
we  should  explain  the  first  three  verses,  which  seem  to  be  from 
another  hand  than  the  Seer's  ;  as  well  as  passages  like  xviii. 
20  and  xxi.  14,  which  lead  us  to  think  of  a  different  pen.  So 
in  Ephesians  ii.  20  we  feel  sure  that  an  amanuensis  or  an  imi- 
tator has  come  between  us  and  Paul.  We  have  to  be  on  our 
guard  against  the  abuse  made  of  apostolic  names  to  give  cui'- 
rency  to  apocryphal  compositions.^  Many  things  in  the  Apoca- 
lypse are  ill  adapted  to  an  immediate  disciple  of  Jesus.'*^ 
We  are  surprised  to  find  one  who  was  of  the  inner  circle  in 
which  the  gospel  was  wrought  out  exhibiting  his  former  friend 
as  a  glorified  Messiah,  sitting  on  God's  throne,  ruling  the  na- 
tions, —  so  wholly  different  from  him  of  Galilee  that  the  Seer 
trembles  at  sight  of  him  and  ''  falls  at  his  feet  as  dead  "  (i. 
17).  One  who  had  known  the  real  Jesus  would  scarcely,  even 
at  the  end  of  six  and  thirty  years,  have  undergone  such  a  men- 
tal revolution.  Mary  of  Magdala,  on  beholding  the  risen  Jesus, 
exclaims,  "  My  Master !  "  while  John,  on  seeing  the  heavens 
opened,  must  find  him  whom  he  loved  transformed  into  the 
dread  Messiah.  It  is  no  less  surprising  to  see  from  the  pen 
of  one  of  the  chief  figures  in  tlie  gospel  idyll  a  composition 
purely  artificial,  a  mere  copy,  showing  in  every  line  a  cold  imi- 
tation of  the  ancient  prophetic  visions.  The  picture  of  the 
Galilaean  fishermen  given  us  by  the  Synoptics  by  no  means 
represents  to  us  men  of  the  study,  diligent  readers  of  old 
books,  pedantic  rabbins.  Is  the  picture  by  the  Synoptics,  then, 
the  false  one  ?  and  was  the  company  that  gathered  about  Jesus 
a  good  deal  more  pedantic,  more  scholastic,  more  like  the 

^  Compare  the  evidences  from  Caius  and  Dionysius  of  Alexandria  in 
Euseb.  ill.  28. 

2  Compare  i.  12  with  ver.  9,  19,  20;  vi.  9;  xx.  4;  xxii.  8. 


24  INTRODUCTION. 

Scribes  and  Pharisees,  than  one  could  possibly  gather  from 
Matthew,  Mark,  and  Luke  ? 

If  we  admit  the  view  I  have  suggested,  —  that  John  rather 
adopted  the  Apocalypse  than  wrote  it  with  his  own  hand,  — 
we  have  the  further  advantage  of  accounting  for  the  limited 
reception  of  the  book  during  three  quarters  of  the  century  fol- 
lowing its  composition.  Very  likely  the  author  himself,  after 
the  year  70,  —  seeing  Jerusalem  taken,  the  Flavian  emperors 
firm  on  their  throne,  the  Empire  reconstructed,  and  the  world 
persisting  to  exist  in  spite  of  the  three-and-a-half  years*  term 
he  had  allowed  it,  —  checked  the  circulation  of  his  work.  The 
Apocalypse,  in  fact,  did  not  reach  its  highest  importance  till 
near  the  middle  of  the  second  century,  when  millenarianism 
became  a  point  of  dispute  in  the  church ;  when,  especially, 
persecutions  again  gave  to  outcries  against  "  the  Beast "  their 
meaning  and  their  fitness,  —  as  we  see  in  the  letter  of  the 
churches  of  Lyons  and  Vienne  in  Eusebius  (v.  1, 10,  58).  The 
fortune  of  the  Apocalypse  was  thus  bound  up  with  the  alter- 
nations of  peace  and  conflict  in  the  Church.  Each  persecution 
gave  it  new  currency ;  when  the  persecution  was  stayed,  its 
true  day  of  peril  came,  and  it  had  nearly  been  banished  from 
the  canon  as  a  misleading  and  seditious  pamphlet. 

Two  traditions  which  I  have  accepted  as  plausible  in  this 
volume  —  the  coming  of  Peter  to  Rome,  and  the  residence  of 
John  at  Ephesus  —  have  been  the  subject  of  much  controversy, 
and  are  discussed  in  an  appendix.  I  have  there  considered 
Scholten's  recent  treatise  on  the  apostle's  abode  in  Asia,  with 
the  attention  due  to  all  the  writings  of  this  eminent  Dutch 
critic.  The  conclusions  to  which  I  have  come  (which,  however, 
I  hold  as  merely  probable)  will,  no  doubt,  —  like  the  use  I  have 
made  of  the  Fourth  Gospel  in  writing  the  "  Life  of  Jesus,"  — 
move  the  scorn  of  a  young,  self-confident  school,  in  whose  eyes 
every  point  is  proved  so  that  it  be  negative  ;  a  school  that  per- 
emptorily taxes  with  ignorance  those  who  do  not  accept  its 
exaggerations  on  sight.  I  beg  the  thoughtful,  serious  reader 
to  believe  that  I  have  enough  respect  for  him  to  neglect  noth- 
ing that  may  serve  in  the  search  for  truth  in  the  line  of  study 


THE  GERMAN  CRITICS.  25 

I  undertake.  But  it  is  my  maxim  that  history  is  one  thing 
and  disquisition  is  another.  History  cannot  be  well  taken  in 
hand  until  erudition  has  heaped  up  whole  libraries  of  memoirs 
and  critical  essays.  But,  when  history  comes  to  be  disengaged 
from  this  scaffolding,  all  it  owes  the  reader  is  to  point  out  the 
original  source  on  which  each  statement  rests.  In  these  vol- 
umes devoted  to  the  beginnings  of  Christian  history,  the  notes 
fill  a  third  of  the  page ;  but  if  I  had  been  obliged  to  add  the 
bibliography,  citations  from  modern  authors,  and  detailed  dis- 
cussions of  the  views  held,  they  would  have  covered  at  least 
three-quarters.  True,  the  method  I  have  followed  assumes 
the  reader  to  be  familiar  with  the  results  of  critical  study  in 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  a  claim  which  few  of  my  coun- 
trymen can  make.  But  how  many  works  of  value  could  there 
be,  if  a  writer  must  first  be  sure  of  a  public  to  understand  him 
fully  ?  I  say,  too,  that  even  one  with  no  knowledge  of  Ger- 
man, if  he  is  acquainted  with  what  has  been  written  in  our 
language  upon  the  subject,  can  perfectly  well  follow  my  argu- 
ment. The  excellent  collection  of  essays  in  the  Revue  de 
theologie  (published  till  recently  at  Strasburg),  is  an  encyclo- 
paedia of  modern  exegesis,  not  relieving  us,  it  is  true,  from  the 
duty  of  exploring  the  German  and  Dutch  scholars,  but  for  half 
a  century  reporting  all  great  discussions  of  theological  erudi- 
tion/ 1  have  always  insisted  that  Germany  has  earned  last- 
ing glory  by  founding  the  science  of  biblical  criticism,  with  the 
researches  appertaining  thereto  ;  and  this,  with  sufficient  em- 
phasis to  be  above  the  charge  of  ignoring  the  obligations  I 
have  a  hundred  times  acknowledged.  German  exegesis  has 
its  faults,  which  ever  so  liberal  a  theologian  cannot  avoid ;  but 
the  patience,  persistency,  and  good  faith  it  has  displayed  are 
worthy  of  all  praise.     Many  a  noble  building-stone  has  Ger- 

^  This  and  the  succeeding  paragraph  contain  the  author's  personal 
acknowledgments  to  between  thirty  and  forty  eminent  scholars,  and 
critics  of  the  modem  schools.  As  these  lists,  however,  were  written 
nearly  twenty  years  ago,  they  would  be  an  insufficient  guide  for  more 
recent  explorers  in  a  field  whose  bounds  are  so  rapidly  extending,  and 
hence  they  are  omitted  here.  —  Ed. 


ri.r 


26  INTRODUCTION. 

many  added  in  the  intellectual  structure  of  mankind ;  but, 
among  them  all,  biblical  science  is,  perhaps,  that  which  has 
been  chiselled  with  the  greatest  care,  and  which  bears  most 
completely  the  stamp  of  the  workman's  hand. 

I  would  here  record  my  special  gratitude  to  those  accom- 
plished Italian  scholars,  who  were  my  inestimable  guides 
throughout  a  recent  journey  in  Italy.  It  will  appear  in  the 
following  pages  at  how  many  points  this  journey  touched  the 
topics  it  treats.  Though  no  stranger  to  Italy,  I  was  athirst  to 
greet  once  more  that  land  so  full  of  memories,  the  richly  en- 
dowed mother  of  every  new  intellectual  birth.  According  to 
Rabbinical  tradition,  there  was  at  Rome,  during  the  long 
eclipse  of  beauty  which  we  call  the  Middle  Age,  an  ancient 
image,  kept  in  a  secret  spot,  so  beautiful  that  the  Romans 
would  come  by  night  to  kiss  it  stealthily.  Of  such  embraces, 
'twas  said.  Antichrist  was  born.^  This  child  of  the  marble 
image  was  verily  a  son  of  Italy.  All  the  great  protests  of  man's 
conscience  against  the  extravagances  of  Christendom  came  of 
old  from  the  bosom  of  this  land ;  and  from  this  they  will  come 
again  in  future  time. 

I  will  confess  that  my  delight  in  history,  the  singular  joy  in 
beholding  the  spectacle  displayed  on  the  theatre  of  the  world, 
has  especially  entranced  me  in  this  volume.  I  have  had  such 
joy  in  writing  it  that  I  ask  no  other  reward  than  I  have  found 
in  the  task  itself.  Often  have  I  reproached  myself  for  taking 
so  much  pleasure  in  my  study,  while  my  unhappy  country  was 
wasting  in  long  agony ;  but  my  conscience  is  clear  of  blame. 
When  in  the  elections  of  1869 1  solicited  the  votes  of  my  fellow- 
citizens,  all  my  placards  bore  conspicuously  this  inscription : 
"  No  Revolution !  no  War !  War  would  be  as  fatal  as  Revolu- 
tion." In  September,  1870, 1  implored  the  enlightened  minds 
of  Germany  and  Europe  to  reflect  on  the  frightful  peril  that 
menaced  civilisation.  During  the  siege  of  Paris,  in  Novem- 
ber, I  risked  great  unpopularity  by  advocating  an  Assembly, 
with  powers  to  treat  for  peace.     In  the  elections  of  1871, 1 

1  Buxtorf,  Lexicon  CJiald.,  etc.,  p.  222. 


RELIGION  WITHOUT  DOGMA,  '27 

replied  to  the  overtures  made  me,  "  Such  a  charge  can  be 
neither  sought  nor  refused."  When  order  was  restored,  I 
bestowed  all  my  attention  upon  the  reforms  which  I  considered 
most  urgent  for  the  salvation  of  the  State.  I  have  done  what 
I  could.  We  owe  it  to  our  country  to  be  frank  with  her ;  we 
need  employ  no  flatteries  or  tricks  to  win  her  to  accept  our 
service  or  accord  with  our  views. 

Moreover,  while  this  volume  is  primarily  addressed  to 
inquirers  and  men  of  taste,  it  will,  perhaps,  teach  more  than 
one  lesson.  Here  we  shall  see  crime  carried  to  its  height,  and 
protest  lifted  against  it  in  accents  saintly  and  sublime.  Such 
a  sight  will  have  its  religious  use.  I  believe  as  fully  as  ever 
that  religion  is  not  a  mere  illusion  of  our  nature ;  that  it  an- 
swers to  something  objectively  real ;  that  he  who  follows  its 
inspirations  is  the  truly  inspired  man.  To  simplify  religion 
is  not  to  undermine  it,  but  often,  rather,  to  make  it  strong. 
The  little  Protestant  sects  of  our  day,  like  Christianity  at  its 
birth,  are  here  to  prove  it.  The  great  error  of  Romanism  is 
to  think  that  we  can  contend  against  the  advance  of  material- 
ism with  an  intricate  dogmatic  system,  burdening  ourselves 
more  heavily  each  day  with  some  fresh  marvel. 

The  people  will  henceforth  endure  only  a  religion  without 
miracle  ;  but  such  a  religion  might  yet  be  a  living  one  if  those 
who  have  the  care  of  souls  would  accept  the  degree  of  positiv- 
ism that  has  gained  a  hold  on  the  mental  temper  of  the  work- 
ing class ;  and  if,  reducing  dogma  to  its  lowest  terms,  they 
would  make  worship  a  means  of  moral  training  and  helpful 
co-operation.  Above  the  Family,  beyond  the  State,  mankind 
needs  the  Church.  The  stability  of  the  American  Union,  with 
its  amazing  democracy,  is  found  only  in  its  innumerable  sects. 
If  (as  we  may  suppose)  Ultramontane  Catholicism  can  no 
longer  win  back  to  its  temples  the  population  of  great  cities, 
personal  effort  must  create  those  little  centres  where  the  poor 
and  weak  may  find  instruction,  moral  help,  friendly  guidance, 
sometimes  material  aid.  Civil  society  —  call  it  village,  dis- 
trict, province,  state,  or  fatherland  —  owes  something  to  the 
betterment  of  the  individual ;  but  it  acts  only  within  strict 


28  INTRODUCTION. 

limits.  The  family  owes  more ;  but  it  is  often  weak,  some- 
times wholly  helpless.  Associations  formed  upon  a  moral 
foundation  can  alone  bestow  on  every  man  that  comes  into  the 
world  a  living  bond  uniting  him  with  the  Past,  duties  toward 
the  Future,  examples  to  be  followed,  a  heritage  of  Virtue  to  be 
received  and  handed  down,  a  tradition  of  Self-sacrifice  which 
he  has  to  carry  on. 


NOTE   ON   THE  LATER  CRITICISM  OF  THE  APOCALYPSE. 

This  portion  of  Kenan's  great  work  was  completed  about  the  year 
1872.  At  that  time  there  was  a  wide  if  not  universal  consent  of  opinion 
among  scholars  on  the  three  main  points  of  his  exposition  :  that  the 
Apocalypse  expresses  the  mind  of  an  extreme  Jewish  party  in  the  Chris- 
tian Church ;  that  it  was  written  during,  or  just  before,  the  terrors  of  the 
Jewish  war  of  a.  d.  68-70;  and  that  its  most  characteristic  and  obscure 
predictions  refer  personally  to  Nero,  and  to  the  current  popular  expectation 
that,  after  his  real  or  supposed  death,  he  would  be  for  a  time  restored  to 
power.  These  points  are  fully  illustrated  in  chapter  xvi.  of  the  present 
volume.  The  question  of  a  possible  plurality  of  authorship  appears  to  have 
been  hardly  so  much  as  raised. 

Of  other  points  remaining  unresolved,  the  following  are  most  impor- 
tant: an  early  Christian  tradition  ascribing  the  work  to  the  time  of 
Domitian,  about  twenty-five  years  later  than  the  date  here  assumed; 
numerous  passages  or  phrases  which  appear  to  express  doctrinal  concep- 
tions of  the  second  century;  and,  in  particular,  a  seemingly  irreconcilable 
duality  of  conception,  —  the  Jewish  Messiah,  vengeful  and  triumphant, 
being  here  and  there  set  aside  for  the  Christian  Redeemer  under  the 
image  of  a  Lamb  slain  in  sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  his  people,  while  a  rigid 
Jewish  partialism  gives  way  to  the  promise  of  a  world-wide  salvation.  It 
has  also  to  be  noticed  that  the  clear  references  to  Nero  are  all  contained 
in  a  single  broken  passage  —  chapters  xi.-xiv. ;  xvii.,  xviii. — which  is 
strictly  an  episode,  interrupting  what  is  otherwise  the  regular  unfolding 
of  a  celestial  drama.^    The  most  complete  exhibition  of  the  points  above 

1  In  this  episode  the  scene  is  transferred  from  heaven  to  earth,  and  is  full 
of  literary  wealth  and  passion,  quite  remote  from  the  bare  symbolism  of  the 
celestial  visions.  Here  we  have  the  true  Hebraic  temper:  "faith  in  the 
perpetuity  of  the  Temple ;  hope  of  tlie  return  of  Israel  to  God  and  his  final 
dehverance;  a  human  Messiah,  born  of  the  Israehtish  theocracy,  and  caught 
up  to  heaven  to  escape  the  wrath  of  the  Dragon,  —  a  Messiah  without  cross  or 
death;  the  return  of  Moses  and  Elias  [the  two  olive-trees  and  candlesticks] 


THE  APOCALYPSE.  29 

enumerated,  accessible  in  English,  is  given  by  Dr.  Martineau  in  "The 
Seat  of  Authority  in  Religion  "  (1890),  pages  217-237. 

Two  attempted  solutions  of  the  questions  thus  raised  are  all  that  need 
to  be  considered  here.  The  first  is  that  of  Daniel  Voelter  (Tubingen, 
1882),  advocating  a  plurality  of  authorship,  as  modified  by  Eberhard 
Vischer  in  an  essay  of  very  great  ability,  published  in  1886.^  It  may  be 
stated,  in  a  general  way,  thus  :  At  sortie  later  period  of  distress  in  the 
Christian  Church,  —  presumably  in  the  time  of  Domitian,  the  date  as- 
signed by  Harnack  (1896),  —  there  came  into  the  hands  of  some  Christian 
teacher  of  authority  a  Hebrew  document,  which  proved  to  be  a  book  of 
visions  composed  during  the  extreme  agony  of  the  Jewish  people  in  69  or 
70.  This  he  translated  (the  translation  being  strongly  tinged  with  the 
original  Hebrew  colouring),  freely  interspersing  passages  to  adapt  it  to 
the  needs  and  temper  of  his  own  day,  and  prefixing  an  introduction,  with 
letters  to  the  seven  churches,  their  form  and  symbolism  being  shaped 
upon  the  Hebrew  original.  In  this  —  with  a  few  passages  added  here 
and  there,  down  to  a.  d.  135  —  we  have  the  "Apocalypse  of  John." 

Vischer's  essay  opened  up  a  new  field  of  discussion,  which  is  already 
occupied  by  a  considerable  literature,  on  a  topic  that  had  seemed  "ex- 
hausted and  going  to  sleep."  To  this  discussion  a  defence  of  the  single 
authorship,  by  M.  Bovon,  in  the  Lausanne  Tierwe  de  Tlieologie  (on  the 
ground  of  the  general  identity  of  eschatological  views  among  Jews  and 
Christians)  is  perhaps  the  most  notable  single  contribution.  A  modified 
view  by  ^I.  Sabatier,  referred  to  on  page  12,  defends  with  great  skill  and 
charm  the  general  unity  of  style  and  composition  in  the  Apocalypse  as  a 
whole,  but  makes  a  marked  exception  of  the  episode  just  spoken  of,  in 
chapter  xi.  and  the  succeeding  chapters.  This,  it  holds,  was  adopted 
bodily  by  the  Christian  writer  of  the  time  of  Domitian,  to  be  pondered, 
like  the  obscure  predictions  of  "Daniel,"  as  a  divine  oracle,  "bitter"  and 
hard  to  understand,  —  "  the  last  cry  of  distress,  vengeance,  and  hope,  of 
the  expiring  Jewish  nation."  —  Ed. 

in  chapter  xi. ;  a  severe  and  jealous  monotheism ;  a  itassion  of  vengeance 
against  the  enemies  of  the  Jewish  people  ;  triumph  and  savage  joy  at  the  sight 
of  desolated  Rome ;  material  splendours  of  the  New  Jerusalem."  These  are 
contained  in  the  "  little  book "  of  chapter  x.,  —  the  figure  under  which  this 
episode  is  introduced.     (Sabatier,  Les  Origines  de  V Apocalypse  de  Saint  Jean.) 

In  Gunkel's  Schopfungund  Chaos  (Giittingen,  1895),  it  is  maintained  that  the 
entire  episode  of  the  Dragon  is  a  Babylonian  myth,  adopted  very  early  into  the 
Hebrew  apocalyptic  imagery.  In  this  view  the  "number  of  the  Beast"  (666) 
has  its  equivalent  in  the  Hebrew,  n^jmp  Dinn  =  "  primeval  chaos." 

1  Die  Offenharung  Johannis,  eine  Judiscke  Apohil//pse  in  Chrisdicher  Bear- 
beitunrf,  Leipzig,  pp.  137.  It  contains  an  Appendix  by  Professor  Harnack,  and 
the  full  Greek  text  of  chapters  iv.-xxii.  5,  containing  the  assumed  original 
document,  and  marking  in  the  type  twelve  or  more  supposed  interpolations. 


ANTICHKIST. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAUL   IN  PRISON.  —  A.  D.  61. 

It  was  a  strange  time;  never,  perhaps,  had  mankind 
passed  through  a  more  extraordinary  crisis.  Nero  was 
just  entering  on  his  twenty-fourth  year.  The  head  of 
this  wretched  youth,  whose  mother's  crime  had  put  him 
on  the  throne  of  the  world  at  seventeen,  was  growing 
completely  crazed.  Many  symptoms  had  long  caused 
anxiety  in  those  who  knew  him.  His  was  a  mind 
prodigiously  given  to  display ;  an  evil  nature  full  of 
hypocrisy,  levity,  and  vanity ;  an  incredible  compound 
of  distorted  intelligence,  profound  malice,  and  self-love 
both  cruel  and  suspicious,  and  a  refinement  of  craft 
without  parallel.  Such  he  was  by  nature.  Still,  it 
needed  special  circumstances  to  make  of  him  that 
monster  who  has  no  second  in  history,  and  who  finds 
his  like  only  in  the  reports  of  criminal  pathology.^  The 
school  of  crime  in  which  he  had  grown  up  —  the  neces- 
sity which  that  wicked  woman  almost  laid  upon  him, 
to  enter  on  the  scene  by  an  act  of  parricide  —  made 
him  early  conceive  the  world  as  a  shocking  comedy  in 
which  he  was  the  chief  actor.     At  the  present  moment 

^  See  the  reflection  in  Pausanias,  vii.  17 :  3. 


32  ANTICHRIST. 

he  has  completely  forsaken  his  masters,  the  philoso- 
phers ;  he  has  slain  almost  all  his  kindred ;  he  has 
brought  the  most  shameful  extravagances  into  fashion ; 
Eoman  society,  in  great  part,  following  his  example, 
has  gone  down  to  the  last  depth  of  depravity.  Antique 
hardness  of  heart  was  coming  to  its  height ;  a  truer 
popular  instinct  was  beginning  to  react  against  it. 
About  the  time  when  Paul  entered  Rome,  this  was 
the  chronicle  of  the  day :  — 

Pedanius  Secundus,  prefect  of  Rome,  a  man  of  consu- 
lar rank,  had  been  assassinated  by  one  of  his  slaves, 
who  might  well  plead  extenuating  circumstances  in  his 
favour.  By  the  law,  every  slave  who  had  been  under 
the  same  roof  with  him  when  the  crime  was  committed 
must  be  put  to  death.  Of  these  wretches  there  were 
near  four  hundred.  When  it  was  learned  that  this 
atrocious  butchery  was  really  to  take  place,  the  slum- 
bering sense  of  justice  in  the  vilest  of  the  people  was 
shocked.  There  was  a  riot ;  but  the  Senate  and  the 
Emperor  decreed  that  the  law  must  take  its  course.-^ 

Among  these  four  hundred  innocents  slaughtered  in 
the  name  of  a  hateful  law,  there  may  have  been  more 
than  one  Christian.  The  bottom  of  the  pit  of  iniquity 
was  now  reached  ;  to  go  on  must  be  to  go  upward. 
Certain  moral  indications  of  a  strange  sort  had  ap- 
peared in  the  higher  ranks  of  Roman  society.^  Four 
years  before,  there  had  been  much  talk  of  a  high-born 
lady,  Pomponia  Grascina,  wife  of  Aulus  Plautius,  the 
first   conqueror   of  Britain.^      She   was   charged   with 

1  Tac.  Ann.  xiv.  42. 

2  Tertull.  Aj)ol.  1. 

8  See  Borghesi,  Works,  i.  17-27;  Ovid,  Ponlica,  i.  6,  ii.  6,  iv.  9;  Tac. 
Agric.  4. 


PAUL  IN  PRISON.  33 

"  outlandish  superstition."  She  always  dressed  in 
black,  and  never  relaxed  in  her  austerity  of  man- 
ner. This  melancholy  was  ascribed  to  shocking  mem- 
ories, especially  the  death  of  her  near  friend,  Julia, 
daughter  of  Drusus,  who  perished  at  the  hand  of 
Messalina.  One  of  her  sons  seems  also  to  have  been 
the  victim  of  one  of  Nero's  most  enormous  crimes ;  ^ 
but  Pomponia  evidently  bore  in  her  heart  a  profounder 
grief,  and,  it  may  be,  a  mysterious  hope.  According  to 
old  custom,  she  was  referred  to  the  tribunal  of  her  hus- 
band, who  assembled  their  kindred,  investigated  the 
charge  as  a  family  matter,  and  pronounced  her  inno- 
cent. This  noble  lady  lived  long  after,  safe  in  her  hus- 
band's protection,  always  sad,  always  held  in  honour. 
She  seems  never  to  have  told  her  secret.*  Who  knows 
whether  what  superficial  observers  took  for  melancholy 
was  not  a  deep  peace  of  soul,  calm  meditation,  a  re- 
signed looking  forward  to  death,  scorn  of  a  society  at 
once  silly  and  malevolent,  the  unspoken  joy  of  a  heart 
that  renounces  pleasure  ?  Who  knows  whether  Pom- 
ponia Grsecina  was  not  the  first  saint  in  the  world  of 
rank,  the  elder  sister  of  Melania,  Eustochia,  and  Paula  ?^ 
This  strange  condition  of  things,  while  it  exposed 
the  church  at  Rome  to  political  storms,  gave  to  it, 
although  small  in  numbers,  an  importance  among  the 

^  Sueton.  Nero^  35. 

a  Tac.  Ann.  xiii.  32. 

^  The  Gens  Pomponia  Grcecina  is  thought  by  some  to  have  held  for 
several  centuries  high  rank  in  the  Church  at  Rome.  The  name  seems  to 
have  been  found  in  the  cemetery  of  St.  Calixtus  (inscription  of  the  third 
or  fourth  century  doubtfully  restored :  Rossi,  Boma  sotteran.  i.  306 ;  ii.  360 ; 
inscr.  tav.  49,  50,  No.  27).  The  identifying  of  Pomponia  Graecina  with 
the  Lucina  whose  memory  clings  to  the  oldest  Christian  burial-places 
seems  more  than  doubtful.  There  was  only  one  Lucina,  of  the  third 
century. 

3 


34  ANTICHRIST. 

first.  Rome,  under  Nero,  was  not  in  the  least  like  a 
provincial  city.  Every  one  who  looked  for  a  great 
career  must  go  to  it.  In  coming  thither  Paul  him- 
self had  been  guided  by  a  clear  intuition.  His  arrival 
there  was  an  event  in  his  life  second  only  to  his  con- 
version. He  felt  that  he  had  reached  the  zenith  of  his 
apostolic  career,  and  doubtless  recalled  the  dream  in 
which,  after  one  of  his  days  of  conflict,  Christ  appeared 
to  him,  saying,  "  Be  of  good  cheer,  Paul ;  for  as  thou 
hast  testified  of  me  in  Jerusalem,  so  must  thou  bear 
witness  also  at  Rome."  ^ 

As  soon  as  they  came  near  the  walls  of  the  eternal 
city,  the  centurion  Julius  conducted  his  prisoners  to 
the  praetorian  barracks,  built  by  Sejanus  near  the  via 
Nomentaiia,  and  put  them  in  charge  of  the  "captain 
of  the  guard "  {prcBfedus  prceiorianus)?  Those  who 
appealed  to  the  emperor,  on  entering  Rome,  were  held 
as  the  emperor's  prisoners,  and  as  such  confided  to  the 
imperial  guard.^  There  were  usually  two  praetorian 
prefects ;  at  this  time  there  was  but  one.*  Since 
A.  D.  51,  this  high  charge  had  been  in  the  hands  of  the 
noble  Afranius  Burrhus,^  who  a  year  later  atoned  by  a 
grievous  death  for  the  crime  of  seeking  to  do  good  by 
a  compact  with  evil.  With  him  Paul  doubtless  had 
direct  communication ;  though  it  may  be  that  the 
humane  treatment  given  to  the  apostle  was  due  to 
the  influence  which  that  upright  and  good  man  shed 
about  him.     Paul  was  put  in  military  guard ;  that  is, 

1  Acts  xxiii.  11 ;  comp.  xix.  24  ;  xxvii.  24. 

2  Acts  xxviii.  16;  Phil.  i.  13;  Suet.  Tiberius,  37. 

8  Pliny,  Epist.  x.  65;  Josephus,  Antiq.  xviii.  6:  6,  7;  Philostratus, 
SopMstcBy  ii.  32. 

^  Tillemont,  Hist,  des  empereurs,  i.  702. 
^      ^  See  Josephus,  Antiq.  xx.  8:  9. 


PAUL  IN  PRISON.  35 

in  keeping  of  an  officer  of  the  military  stores  {frumen- 
tarius)}  to  whom  he  was  chained,  but  not  painfully  or 
constantly.  He  was  allowed  to  live  in  quarters  hired 
at  his  own  charge,  probably  near  the  barracks,  where 
any  might  come  freely  to  see  him,^  and  here  he  waited 
for  two  years  the  hearing  of  his  appeal.  Burrhus  died 
in  March,  a.  d.  62,  and  was  succeeded  by  Fenius  Rufus 
and  the  infamous  Tigellinus,  the  partner  of  Nero's 
debauchery,  and  the  agent  of  his  crimes.  Seneca,  from 
this  time  on,  kept  aloof  from  public  affairs,  and  Nero 
had  no  other  counsellors  than  the  Furies. 

The  relations  of  Paul  with  the  faithful  in  Rome  had 
begun,  as  we  have  seen,  during  his  abode  at  Corinth. 
Three  days  after  his  arrival  he  wished,  according  to 
his  custom,  to  come  in  contact  with  the  chief  haJcamim 
(wise  men).  The  Christian  body  in  Rome  had  not  been 
formed  in  the  Jewish  synagogue,  but  of  believers  from 
abroad,  who  had  landed  at  Ostia  or  Puteoli,  and  gath- 
ered in  a  church  which  had  little  to  do  with  the  various 
synagogues  of  Rome.  Owing  to  the  vastness  of  the 
city,  and  the  multitude  of  strangers  who  met  in  it,^ 
there  was  little  common  acquaintance,  and  quite  oppo- 
site ways  of  thinking  might  prevail  there  without  ever 
coming  into  touch.  Paul,  then,  followed  the  same 
course  here  as  in  his  first  and  second  missions  in  the 


1  Acts  xxviii.  16, 20;  comp.  «  Saint  Paul,"  p.  156  ;  Jos.  Ant.  xviii.  6:  7; 
Seneca,  De  tranq.  animce,  10.  Frumentarii  were  attached,  apparently,  to 
every  corps  (Renier). 

2  Acts  xxxiii.  16,  17,  20,  23,  30.  Phil.  i.  7,  13,  14,  17,  30.  Col.  iv.  3, 
4,  18.     Eph.  ii.  1;  iii.  1;  vi.  19,20. 

*  The  Jewish  population  may  have  been  some  twenty  or  thirty 
thousand,  counting  women  and  children  (Jos.  Ant.  xvii.  11:  1;  xviii.  3:  5. 
Tac.  Ann.  ii.  85).  The  well-known  passage  in  Cicero  (pro  Flacco,  28) 
implies  about  that  number. 


36  ANTICHRIST. 

towns  where  he  planted  the  faith.  He  sent  to  invite 
several  chiefs  of  the  synagogue  to  visit  him.  To  these 
he  set  forth  the  situation  in  the  most  favourable  light, 
assuring  them  that  he  neither  had  done  nor  wished 
to  do  anything  against  his  people ;  that  he  strove  for 
the  "  hope  of  Israel ;  "  that  is,  faith  in  the  resurrection. 
The  Jews  replied  that  they  had  never  heard  of  him, 
or  received  any  message  from  Judaea  that  spoke  of  him, 
and  invited  him  to  explain  his  views ;  "  for,''  said  they, 
"we  hear  that  the  sect  you  tell  us  of  is  everywhere 
spoken  against."  A  time  was  set  for  the  discussion, 
and  a  large  number  of  Jews  gathered  in  the  little  room 
which  made  his  dwelling  to  hear  him.  The  discussion 
lasted  almost  a  whole  day,  Paul  setting  forth  the  texts 
of  Moses  and  the  Prophets  which,  as  he  thought,  proved 
Jesus  to  be  the  Messiah.  A.  few  assented,  the  larger 
number  remained  incredulous.  The  Jews  of  Rome 
prided  themselves  on  their  exact  observance  of  the 
Law :  ^  here  was  not  the  place  for  him  to  succeed. 
The  meeting  broke  up  in  loud  dispute ;  in  anger  he 
quoted  a  passage  of  Isaiah  (vi.  9,  10),  very  familiar  to 
Christian  preachers,^  on  the  wilful  blindness  of  those 
hardened  men  who  shut  their  eyes  and  stop  their  ears 
so  as  neither  to  see  nor  hear  the  truth.  He  ended, 
says  the  account,  with  the  usual  threat  of  offering  the 
kingdom  of  God,  rejected  by  the  Jews,  to  Gentiles  who 
would  more  readily  accept  it. 

His  mission  among  the  pagans  was,  in  truth,  far 
more  successful.  His  prison-cell  became  the  centre  of 
an   ardent   apostolate.     During  the  two  years  of  his 

'^  ^ikkvTokoy.  (lovers  of  the  commandments).  See  "Saint  Paul,"  pp. 
104-107. 

2  Matt.  xiii.  14;  Mark  xiv.  12;  Luke  viii.  10;  John  xii.  40;  Rom. 
xi.  8. 


PAUL  IN  PRISON.  37 

captivity  he  was  never  once  mo]ested  in  his  work.* 
Some  of  his  disciples  continued  with  him,  among  them 
Timothy  and  Aristarchus ;  ^  Luke  must  have  left  him, 
as  Paul  does  not  send  his  greeting  to  the  Philippians. 
His  friends  seem,  by  turns,  to  have  shared  his  imprison- 
ment.^ The  progress  of  conversion  was  remarkable.* 
The  apostle  wrought  miracles,  it  was  said,  controlling 
spirits  and  the  heavenly  powers,'^  which  accounts  we 
may  compare  with  the  legend  of  Simon  Magus.  Paul 
in  prison  was  thus  more  effective  than  when  in  free 
activity.  His  chains,  which  he  dragged  to  the  praetor's 
court,  and  displayed  with  a  sort  of  pride,^  were  eloquent 
in  themselves.  At  his  example,  inspired  by  his  courage 
in  captivity,  his  disciples  and  other  Koman  Christians 
grew  bold  in  speech. 

At  first  they  found  no  obstacle."^  Even  Campania 
and  the  cities  near  Vesuvius  received  (perhaps  from 
the  church  at  Puteoli)  the  germs  of  Christian  faith, 
which  here  found  the  ordinary  condition  of  its  growth, 
a  soil  of  Judaism  to  receive  it.^  Strange  conquests 
were  brought  about.     The  pure  life  of  the  faithful  was 

1  Acts  xxviii.  30,  31 ;  Phil.  7. 

2  Phil.  i.  1;  ii.  19;  Col.  iv.  10;  Philem.  24. 

»  Col.  iv.  10  ;  Philem.  13,  23.  *  Phil.  i.  12. 

5  Kom.  XV.  18,  19.  «  Phil.  i.  13. 

7  Phil.  i.  14. 

8  Garrucci,  Bull,  archeol.  napol.f  new  series,  ann.  2,  p.  8;  Rossi,  Bull, 
di  archeol.  crist.  18G4,  p.  69,  92 ;  Zangemeister,  Inscr.  pariet.  No.  679. 
For  the  Jews  at  Puteoli,  see  Minervini,  Bull  arch,  napol.  new  ser.  ann,  3, 
p.  105 ;  at  Pompeii,  Garrucci,  as  above,  pp.  8,  68.  On  the  various  eastern 
or  southern  populations  at  Puteoli,  see  "Saint  Paul,"  p.  114;  Momrasen, 
Imcr.  napol.  No.  2462  ;  Fiorelli,  Inner.  Lat.  (museum  of  Naples),  Nos.  691, 
692,  693;  Minervini,  Man.  ant.  ineci.  i.  (Naples,  1852),  40-43,  App.  vii-ix; 
Zeitschr.  der  d.  m.  G.  1869,  150  ei  seq. ;  Journ.  asiat.  Apr.  1873.  Comp. 
Gervasio  {Mem.  d.  Accad.  Ercolan.  vol.  ix. ;  Scherillo,  La  venuta  di  S. 
Pielro  in  NapoU  (Naples,  1859),  pp.  97-149.     See  TertuU.  Apol.  40. 


38  ANTICHRIST, 

a  powerful  charm,  which  won  many  a  Roman  dame :  ^ 
the  better  families,  indeed,  still  retained  an  unbroken 
tradition  of  modesty  and  nobility  of  character  in  their 
ladies.  The  new  sect  had  disciples  even  in  Nero's 
household,^  and  perhaps  among  the  Jews  also,  who 
were  numerous  in  the  lower  ranks  of  service,^  —  for 
example,  the  Jewess  Acme,  waiting-maid  of  Livia ;  the 
Samaritan  Thallus,  freedman  of  Tiberius* — and  among 
the  slaves  and  freedmen  enrolled  in  societies  or  clubs 
(collegia)^  whose  condition  touched  the  meanest  and  the 
highest,  the  most  brilliant  and  most  squalid.^  Vague 
hints  would  lead  us  to  suppose  that  Paul  had  relations 
with  members  or  freedmen  of  the  AnnaBan  house.^     It 

^  As  we  see  in  the  Acts  of  Peter  reported  by  the  pseudo-Linus. 

2  Phil.  iv.  22.  Cf.  Philosoph.  ix.  12;  Gruter,  642,  8;  Cardinali,  Dipl. 
p.  221,  No.  410.  According  to  Chrysostom  (i.  48,  ii.  168,  ix.  349,  xi.  673, 
722,  ed.  Montfaucon),  Astorius  [an  Arian  of  Cappadocia,  in  the  fourth 
century],  p.  168  (ed.  Combefis) ;  Theophylact  (in  2  Tim.  iv.  16),  Glycas 
{Ann.  p.  236,  Paris  ed.),  communications  of  Paul  with  one  of  the  women, 
and  with  a  favourite  servant  of  Nero's  court,  are  to  be  traced  in  the 
Acts  of  Peter  and  Paul.  Comp.  the  apocryphal  "  Passions  "  of  these  apos- 
tles, ascribed  to  St.  Linus,  in  Bibl.  patrum  maxima,  ii.  67  et  seq. ;  the  Acts 
of  St.  Tropez  in  Acta  SS.  Mali.  p.  6  (note  the  expression  magnus  in  officio 
Ccesaris  Neronis,  and  comp.  Gruter,  599,  6;  Rhein  Mus.  new  ser.  vi.  16); 
Acta  Petri  et  Pauli  (Tisch.  Acta  apost.  apocr.)  §§  31,  80,  84,  Paris  IMSS. 
There  is  no  ground  for  identifying  the  legendary  woman  of  the  court  with 
Acte,  though  the  inscription  735  of  Orelli  is  no  objection,  not  being  the 
epitaph  of  Acte,  as  supposed  (Greppo,  Trois  memoires,  Paris,  1810,  mem. 
1,  and  additions). 

8  See  below,  p.  141,  142. 

4  Jos.  Antiq.  xvii.  5:7;  18,  v.  4;   Wars,  i.  33:  6,  7. 

6  Tac.  Hist.  ii.  92. 

^  The  following  inscription,  seemingly  of  the  third  century,  was 
discovered  a  few  years  ago  at  Ostia :  — 

D-  M- 

M  •  Anneo* 

Pavlo  •  Petro 

M  •  Annevs  •  Pavlvs 

FiLIO  •   CARISSIMO 

(Rossi,  Bull.  1867,  6  et  seq.    Cf.  Dion.  Alex,  in  Euseb.  vii.  25:  14).    There 


PAUL  IN  PRISON,  39 

is  clear,  in  any  case,  that  the  distinction  between  Jew 
and  Christian  was  well  understood  in  Rome  at  this 
time  by  people  of  intelligence.  Christianity  seemed  to 
them  a  separate  "  superstition,"  an  outgrowth  from 
Judaism,  hating  it  and  hated  by  it.-^  Nero,  in  par- 
ticular, knew  well  enough  what  was  going  on,  and 
regarded  it  with  a  certain  curiosity.  Already,  perhaps, 
some  of  the  Jewish  intriguers  about  him  stirred  his 
imagination  with  the  affairs  of  the  East,  and  liad 
promised  him  that  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  which  was 
the  dream  of  his  last  hours,  his  latest  hallucination.^ 

We  do  not  know  with  certainty  the  name  of  any 
member  of  the  church  in  Rome  at  this  time.  A 
document  of  dubious  value  reckons,  as  friends  of 
Paul  and  Timothy,  the  names  of  Eubulus,  Pudens, 
Claudia,  and  that  Linus  whom  later  ecclesiastical  tra- 
dition  recorded    as   Peter's    successor   in   the   Roman 


were  many  Peters  in  the  third  century  (of  Lampsacus,  of  Alexandria,  etc.), 
and  still  more  Pauls  (of  Samosata,  etc.).  In  the  fourth,  the  belief  pre- 
vailed of  relations  of  St.  Paul  with  Seneca,  suggesting  an  apocryphal  cor- 
respondence (Jerome,  De  vir.  illustr.  12 ;  Aug.  Epist.  153,  to  Macedonius,  14; 
pseudo-Linus,  pp.  70,  71).  The  belief  originated  from  a  certain  supposed 
likeness  in  doctrine  (Tertull.  De  anima,  20).  Paul,  indeed,  had  relations 
with  Gallio,  Seneca's  brother ;  but  the  slight  interest  felt  by  these  en- 
lightened men  in  popular  superstitions  (Acts  xviii.  12-17)  does  not  lead  us 
to  suppose  that  Seneca's  curiosity  was  moved  in  the  least  regarding  Paul. 
The  law  that  Seneca,  as  consul  in  the  latter  half  of  a.  p.  57  (Rossi,  Bull. 
1806,  60,  62),  had  to  pronounce  on  Paul's  appeal,  rests  on  an  erroneous 
chronology.  In  a  lost  book.  Contra  Super stitiones,  Seneca  spoke  of  Jews, 
not  Christians  (Aug.  De  civ.  Dei^  vi.  11).  This  prejudice  against  Jews 
would  have  ill  disposed  him  towards  Paul  and  the  Christians  if  he  had 
ever  met  them.     Such  a  man  could  not  have  been  Paul's  disciple. 

1  A  passage  of  Tacitus,  preserved  by  Sulpicius  Severus  (Bernays, 
Ueber  die  Kronik  des  Sulp.  Sev.j  Berlin,  1861,  57),  speaks  of  "these  super- 
stitions, though  mutually  hostile,  yet  proceeding  from  a  common  origin 
.  .  .  Christians  came  from  Jews."     (Comp.  Tac.  Ann.  xv.  44.) 

2  Suet.  Nero,  40. 


40  ANTICHRIST. 

bishopric.'^  Nor  have  we  any  means  of  estimating, 
even  approximately,  the  number  of  the  disciples.  They 
made,  no  doubt,  but  a  small  fraction  of  the  Jewish 
population.^ 

All  seemed  to  be  going  well ;  but  the  fiercely  bitter 
party  that  had  taken  it  in  hand  to  fight  Paul  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth  did  not  sleep.  We  have  seen  the 
emissaries  of  those  eager  conservatives  hunting  him, 
as  it  were,  by  scent  on  his  trail,  while  in  his  travels 
by  sea  he  left  a  long  wake  of  hatred  behind  him. 
Shown  under  the  baleful  features  of  a  man  who 
teaches  the  eating  of  flesh  sacrificed  to  idols,  and  the 
sharing  of  gentile  works  of  uncleanness,  he  is  pointed 
out  to  all  men  in  advance,  and  marked  as  the  object 
of  vengeance.  This  is  hard  for  us  at  this  day  to  be- 
lieve, but  we  cannot  well  doubt  it,  since  Paul  himself 
has  told  it.^  Even  at  this  solemn  and  critical  moment, 
he  finds  himself  confronted  by  the  basest  passions. 
Adversaries  —  members  of  that  Judeeo-Christian  sect, 
which  now  for  ten  years  he  had  found  everywhere  in  his 
path  —  mocked  him  with  a  sort  of  counterfeit  preach- 
ing of  the  gospel.  Envious,  disputatious,  hateful,  they 
watched  the  occasion  to  oppose  him,  to  embitter  the 
griefs  of  his  imprisonment,  to  stir  up  the  Jews  against 
him,  to  belittle  the  merit  of  his  endurance.     The  good- 

*  2  Tim.  iv.  21.  This  verse  served  later  as  the  ground  of  legends 
regarding  the  senator  Pudens  and  his  family.  On  the  name  Linus,  see 
Le  Bas  (Inscr.  iii.  No.  1081).  Greek  names  at  Rome  usually  indicate 
slaves  or  freedmen  (Suet.  Claud.  25;  Galba,  14;  Tac.  Hist.  i.  13).  The 
cognomen  gentilitium  alone  of  freedmen  might  be  Latin.  For  Claudia, 
comp.  Claudia  Aster  (below,  p.  141,  142),  KXavSia  incrrr)  (inscr.  at  Rome, 
Orelli,  i.  367).  A  Claudia  is  named  among  the  freed  people  of  Acta 
(Orelli,  735;  Fabretti,  /nscr.  124-126).  On  the  names  registered  in 
Romans  xvi.  see  "Saint  Paul,"  Introd.  Ixv-lxx. 

2  See  note  3,  p.  35.  »  Phil.  i.  15-17;  ii.  20,  21. 


PAUL  IN  PRISON.  41 

will,  love,  and  honour  exhibited  toward  him  by  others, 
their  eagerly  declared  conviction  that  his  chains  were 
the  glory  and  best  vindication  of  the  Gospel,  sweetened 
to  him  all  that  bitter  draught.  In  his  own  words, 
written  at  this  time, — 

What  then  ?  If  only  Christ  be  preached,  whether  in  pre- 
tence or  in  truth,  I  rejoice  in  it  and  will  rejoice.  For  I  know 
that  this  will  prove  my  salvation  through  your  prayer  and  the 
aid  of  the  spirit  of  Christ.  This  is  my  earnest  expectation 
and  my  hope,  that  Christ  shall  be  glorified  whether  by  my  life 
or  death.  For  my  life  is  Christ,  and  to  me  death  is  gain ; 
so  that  if  I  live  I  have  the  harvest  of  my  work,  and  which  I 
would  choose  I  do  not  know.  Thus  I  am  in  doubt  between 
the  two :  for  my  desire  is  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ,  which 
for  me  is  far  more  to  be  desired ;  yet  to  remain  among  you 
is  to  render  the  better  service.^ 

This  greatness  of  soul  gave  him  marvellous  assur- 
ance, cheer,  and  strength.  To  one  of  the  churches 
he  writes,  "  If  my  blood  must  be  sprinkled  as  a  liba- 
tion upon  the  sacrifice  of  your  faith,  I  am  glad  and 
rejoice  with  you  all ;  so  do  you  rejoice  and  be  glad 
with  me."  ^  Still  he  was  more  glad  to  believe  in  his 
own  speedy  acquittal ;  for  he  saw  in  it  the  triumph 
of  the  gospel  and  the  opening  to  new  labours.  His 
thought,  it  is  true,  seems  to  turn  no  longer  to  the 
West ;  rather  he  would  withdraw  to  Philippi  or  Co- 
lossse  to  wait  the  Lord's  appearing.  Perhaps  he  had 
come  to  a  better  knowledge  of  the  Latin  world,  and 
saw  that  outside  of  Rome  and  Campania,  regions 
which  immigration  from  the  Levant  had  made  much 
like  Greece  and  Asia  Minor,  he  would  find  extreme 
difficulty,  if  only  in  the  language.     As  we  may  infer 

1  Phil.  i.  18-24.  2  Phil.  ii.  17,  18. 


42  ANTICHRIST, 

from  a  hint  of  Dion  Cassius  (Ix.  17),  he  perhaps  knew 
a  little  Latin,  but  not  enough  for  effective  speech. 
Jewish  and  Christian  proselyting  in  the  first  century 
made  little  advance  in  really  Latin  towns;  it  was 
restricted  to  such  cities  as  Rome  and  Puteoli,  where 
Greek  was  widely  diffused  by  constant  arrivals  from 
the  East.  Paul's  purpose  had  been  sufficiently  carried 
out :  the  gospel  had  been  preached  in  both  the  Grecian 
and  the  Eoman  world ;  ^  in  the  noble  hyperbole  of  pro- 
phetic speech,  it  had  reached  "  the  uttermost  parts  of 
the  earth,"  ^  and  been  "  fully  preached  "  to  all  nations 
under  heaven.^  What  he  had  now  in  mind  was  to 
declare  the  word  freely  in  Rome,*  then  return  to  the 
churches  in  Macedonia  and  Asia,^  and  wait  patiently 
with  them,  in  prayer  and  ecstasy,  for  the  coming 
of  Christ. 

Few  years  in  the  apostle's  life  were  happier  than 
these.^  Great  comfort  came  to  him  from  time  to  time, 
while  he  had  nothing  now  to  fear  from  the  malevo- 
lence of  the  Jews.  His  poor  prison  cell  was  the  centre 
of  a  surprising  activity.  The  insane  profanities  of 
Rome  —  its  spectacles,  debaucheries,  and  crimes,  —  the 
infamies  of  Tigellinus,  the  intrepidity  of  Thraseas,  the 
shocking  fate  of  the  innocent  Octavia,  the  death  of 
Pallas  —  such  tragedies  touched  not  these  pious  enthu- 
siasts. "  The  fashion  of  this  world  is  passing  by,"  said 
they.  The  grand  vision  of  a  divine  future  made  them 
blind  to  the  bloody  filth  through  which  they  walked. 
In  truth,  the  prophetic  word  of  Jesus  was  coming  to 
fulfilment.     Amid    the   outer    darkness   where   Satan 

1  Acts  xxiii.  11 ;  CoL  i.  23.  «  Acts  i.  18. 

8  Kom.  XV.  19.  *  Col.  iv.  3. 

6  Phil.  i.  26;  ii.  24.  «  Phil.  i.  7. 


PAUL  IN  PRISON.  43 

reigns  as  king,  amid  its  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth, 
is  set  the  little  paradise  of  the  elect,  where  they  dwell 
in  their  secluded  realm,  radiant  with  light  and  azure, 
the  kingdom  of  God  their  Father.  But  what  a  hell 
without !  How  dreadful  is  the  abode  in  the  kingdom 
of  the  Beast,  "  where  their  worm  dieth  not  and  the 
fire  is  not  quenched  "  ! 

One  of  the  great  joys  of  Paul  at  this  time,  apparently 
not  long  after  his  arrival  at  Rome,^  was  the  coming  of 
a  message  from  his  beloved  church  at  Philippi,  the  first 
he  had  established  in  Europe,  the  home  of  so  much 
devoted  affection.  The  wealthy  Lydia,  whom  Paul 
calls  his  "  true  yokefellow  "  (iv.  3),^  would  surely  not 
forget  him.  Epaphroditus,  the  church's  messenger, 
brought  a  sum  of  money  (ii.  25),  a  relief  which  Paul 
greatly  needed,  considering  the  costs  of  his  present 
situation.  He  had  always  excepted  that  church  from 
his  usual  rule  of  taking  no  gift  from  his  converts,  and 
received  this  bounty  gladly.  The  tidings  it  sent  were 
cheering,  tidings  of  entire  harmony,  troubled  only  by 
some  small  difference  between  two  deaconesses,  Euodia 
and  Syntyche,  whom  he  seeks  to  conciliate  (i.  27 ; 
iv.  2).  Vexations  from  certain  "adversaries,"  which 
had  brought  about  a  few  arrests,  served  only  to  show 
the  constancy  of  the  true  believers  (i.  28-30 ;  cf.  Acts 
xvi.  23).  That  heresy  of  the  JudaBO-Christians,  the 
assumed  need  of  circumcision,  had  assailed  without 
dividing  them  (iii.  2,  3).  Some  ill  examples  of  worldly 
and  self-indulgent  Christians,  of  whom  he  writes  with 

1  Phil.  i.  13 ;  ii.  23. 

*  This  interpretation  of  the  word  (rv^y^o^^  which  Renan  supposes  to 
mean  "  wife,"  seems  to  be  set  aside  by  the  masculine  gender  of  the  adjec- 
tive. Comp.  "  Saint  Paul,"  148,  149,  where  it  appears  that  one  tradition 
holds  that  Paul  was  married.  —  Ed. 


44  ANTICHRIST, 

tears  (iii.  18,  19),  appear  not  to  have  discredited  the 
church.  Epaphroditus  stayed  some  time  with  Paul, 
and  fell  into  a  sickness  due  to  his  devotion,  of  which 
he  nearly  died ;  and  an  eager  desire  now  came  upon 
him  to  revisit  Philippi,  to  calm  his  friends'  anxiety. 
Paul  accordingly  bade  him  good  speed  (ii.  25,  26), 
giving  him  a  letter  for  the  faithful  at  Philippi,  full 
of  tenderness,  written  by  the  hand  of  Timothy.^  He 
had  never  expressed  in  so  loving  phrases  his  heartfelt 
affection  for  those  churches  of  his  founding,  so  wholly 
good  and  pure. 

He  congratulates  them,  not  only  on  their  belief  in 
Christ,  but  on  having  suffered  for  his  sake.  Those 
of  them  who  are  in  prison  should  be  proud  to  endure 
the  same  treatment  that  they  have  seen  inflicted  on 
their  apostle,  and  that  he  now  endures.  They  are  like 
a  little  group  of  God's  children  in  a  corrupt  and  per- 
verse generation,  like  lights  in  a  world  of  darkness 
(i.  29,  30;  ii.  14-16).  He  warns  them  against  the 
example  of  others  less  perfect,  that  is,  those  not  yet 
free  from  Jewish  prejudice  (iii.  15-19).  The  teachers 
of  "circumcision"  are  spoken  of  with  great  disdain: 

Have  an  eye  to  the  dogs,  the  evil-doers,  and  those  who 
mutilate  themselves.  We  are  the  real  "circumcised,"  we, 
who  worship  God  in  the  spirit,  who  put  our  glory  and  trust 
in  Christ,  not  in  the  flesh.  If  I  chose  to  make  boast  in 
differences  of  the  flesh,  I  could  do  it  with  better  right  than 
any  other,  —  of  pure  Israelite  blood,  circumcised  when  a  week 
old,  of  the  tribe  of   Benjamin,  a  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews, 

^  This  epistle,  in  its  present  form,  has  been  supposed  to  be  made  up 
of  two,  the  former  ending  with  the  words,  "rejoice  in  the  Lord"  (iii.  1), 
which  in  the  preamble  to  the  second  is  omitted.  The  words  "  to  write 
the  same  things'*  seem  to  refer  to  an  earlier  letter;  and  Polycarp  {Ad 
Phil  3)  speaks  of  several  written  by  Paul  to  the  Philippians. 


PAUL  IN  PRISON.  45 

a  strict  legal  Pharisee,  in  zeal  a  persecutor  of  saints,  without 
blame  in  whatever  concerns  the  keeping  of  the  Law.  But  all 
this  I  hold  as  nothing  and  as  filth,  since  I  have  found  the 
transcendent  knowledge  of  Christ.  To  gain  this  I  have  lost 
all  else.  I  have  exchanged  all  merit  of  my  own,  from  keeping 
of  the  Law,  for  that  which  alone  God  regards,  the  life  of  faith 
in  Him,  —  that  which  comes  from  faith  in  Christ,  the  power 
of  his  resurrection,  the  sharing  of  his  sufferings,  and  taking 
upon  myself  the  image  of  his  death,  if  in  any  manner  I  may 
share  also  his  rising  from  the  dead.  Not  that  I  have  yet  at- 
tained this,  or  am  already  perfect ;  but  I  press  on.  Forgetting 
what  is  behind  and  reaching  forth  to  what  is  before  me,  I 
strive  toward  the  goal  for  the  prize  of  victory  in  the  race. 
This  is  the  mind  that  should  be  in  those  who  are  full-grown 
men.  Our  citizenship  is  in  heaven,  whence  we  expect  our 
Saviour  Christ,  who  will  transfigure  our  wretched  body  to  the 
likeness  of  his  glorious  body,  by  virtue  of  that  Divine  decree 
which  has  put  all  things  under  his  control.  Therefore,  brothers 
beloved  and  longed  for,  my  joy  and  crown,  so  stand  fast  in  the 
Lord,  my  dearly  beloved.^ 

Above  all,  he  urges  them  to  harmony  and  obedience. 
The  way  of  life  he  has  shown  them,  the  example  he  has 
given  of  Christianity  in  practice,  is  the  true  one;  yet 
each  believer  has  his  own  revelation,  his  special  inspira- 
tion, which  also  is  from  God  (iii.  15).  He  prays  his 
"true  yokefellow"  to  reconcile  Euodia  and  Syntyche, 
and  aid  them  in  their  service  of  charity  to  the  poor' 
(iv.  2,  3).  He  bids  them  to  rejoice,  "for  the  Lord  is 
at  hand  "  (iv.  4,  5).  His  thanks  for  the  gift  sent  him 
from  the  rich  ladies  of  Philippi  are  a  model  of  right 
feeling  and  genuine  piety :  — 

1  have  had  great  joy  in  the  Lord  at  this  late  blossoming 
out  of  your  care  for  me :  you  had  thought  of  it  before,  but 

1  Chap.  iii.  2-iv.  1. 


46  ANTICHRIST, 

had  no  opportunity.  It  is  not  that  I  am  in  need ;  for  I  have 
learned  to  be  content  with  what  I  have.  I  know  how  to  live 
in  penury  or  in  abundance ;  I  have  learned,  wherever  I  am, 
and  in  whatever  condition,  to  be  full  or  famished,  to  abound 
or  to  suffer  want.  I  can  do  anything  in  Him  who  strengthens 
me.  But  it  was  well  done  of  you  to  share  in  my  distress.  It 
is  not  the  gift  I  think  of,  but  the  rich  gain  that  may  come  to 
you.  I  have  all  I  need,  and  more,  since  I  have  received  from 
Epaphroditus  the  gift  you  sent,  fragrant  as  incense,  a  sacrifice 
of  sweet  odour,  dear  and  acceptable  to  God.^ 

He  urges  humility,  which  makes  each  of  us  hold  the 
rest  in  honour ;  charity,  which  makes  us,  like  Christ, 
think  more  of  others  than  of  ourselves.  Jesus  had  in 
himself  the  possibilities  of  complete  divinity ;  he  might, 
if  he  would,  have  shown  himself  in  heavenly  splendour 
during  his  earthly  life:  but  then  the  method  of  his 
salvation  would  have  been  reversed.  Therefore  he  laid 
aside  his  native  glory,  to  appear  in  ''  the  form  of  a 
servant.'*  Thus,  to  the  world's  eye,  seen  outwardly, 
he  appeared  only  a  man.  "  He  humbled  himself,  mak- 
ing himself  subject  to  death,  even  the  death  of  the 
cross ;  and  this  is  why  God  has  exalted  him,  and  given 
him  a  name  above  every  other  name,  since  it  is  His 
will  that  at  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bend, 
in  heaven,  on  earth,  or  in  the  world  below,  and  every 
tongue  confess  him  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the 
Father"  (ii.  1-11). 

Jesus,  as  we  see,  was  in  Paul's  thought  increasing  in 
dignity  from  day  to  day.  Paul  does  not  as  yet  make 
him  the  equal  of  God ;  he  believes  rather  in  his  divine 
nature,  and  regards  his  earthly  life  as  the  carrying-out 
of  a  divine  plan  wliich  is  effected  by  his  coming  "  in 

1  Chap.  iv.  10-18. 


PAUL  IN  PRISON.  47 

the  flesh."  Imprisonment  had  on  Paul  the  effect  which 
it  commonly  has  on  strong  souls,  exalting  them  to  a 
lofty  pitch,  and  effecting  in  them  profound  revolutions 
of  thought.  He  hopes  soon  to  send  Timothy  to  the 
Philippians  with  fresh  instructions  (ii.  19-23),  though  it 
is  doubtful  if  this  purpose  was  ever  carried  out.  At 
all  events  Timothy  must  have  speedily  returned  to  him, 
as  he  was  at  hand  when  the  epistles  to  the  Colossians 
and  Philemon  were  written.  Luke  seems  also  to  have 
been  for  a  short  time  absent,  since  his  name  does  not 
appear  in  "Philippians,"  as  it  does  in  the  two  later 
epistles. 


CHAPTER  II. 

PETER  AT   ROME. A.  D.  61. 

Paul's  imprisonment  and  entrance  into  Rome,  —  a 
triumph  in  the  view  of  the  disciples,  —  with  the 
opportunity  given  by  his  residence  in  the  capital  of  the 
world,  left  no  peace  to  the  Judaising  party.  To  them 
Paul  was  a  sort  of  stimulant,  an  active  rival,  whom 
they  were  ever  complaining  of,  yet  eager  to  imitate. 
Peter,  in  particular,  always  divided  between  admiration 
of  his  bold  associate  and  the  tasks  imposed  on  him  by 
his  personal  followers,  spent  his  life  —  which  also  had 
its  own  many  trials,  as  Clement  of  Rome  tells  us  ^  —  in 
copying  Paul's  career,  in  following  him  at  a  distance, 
in  holding  after  him  the  strong  positions  which  might 
insure  success  to  their  common  work.  About  A.  D.  54, 
probably  by  Paul's  example,  he  established  himself  at 
Antioch.  The  report  of  Paul's  arrival  in  Rome,  which 
reached  Syria  and  Judaea  in  the  course  of  the  year  61, 
might  well  suggest  to  him  also  the  thought  of  a 
journey  to  the  West. 

He  seems  to  have  come  with  quite  an  apostolic 
company.  First,  his  interpreter,  John  Mark,  whom  he 
called  his  son,  was  his  usual  companion.^     The  Apostle 

^  lAd  Cor  ch.  v. 

2  Col.  iv.  10;  Philem.  24;  1  Pet.  v.  13.  Comp.  Euseb.  ii.  15;  iii.  39; 
Iren,  iii.  1:1;  Tertull.  Adv.  Marc.  iv.  5;  Clem.  Alex,  in  Euseb.  vi.  14; 
Origen,  id.  vi.  25;  Epiph.  li.  6;  Jerome,  Epist.  150, 11.  One  Mark  Peter, 
probably  a  Christian,  appears  at  Bostra,  a.  d.  278  (Waddington,  fnscr. 
1909). 


R  AT  ROME.  ^         49 

John,  as  I  have  more  than  once  observed,  seems  also  to 
have  commonly  been  with  him ;  ^  and  we  have  reason 
to  think  that  Barnabas  may  have  shared  the  journey  : 
he  was  probably  the  writer  of  Hebrews,  who  evidently 
had  been  in  Rome.^  Finally,  it  is  quite  possible  that 
Simon  Magus  went  on  his  own  account  to  the  capital  of 
the  world,  drawn  by  the  attraction  it  had  for  all  chiefs 
of  sects,  —  as  the  Gnostics  of  the  second  century, — 
charlatans,  magicians,  and  wonder-workers.^  To  the 
Jews  the  journey  to  Italy  was  easy  and  common.     The 


1  Acts  i.  13;  iii.  1,  etc.;  iv.  13,  19;  viii.  14;  John  xxi. ;  Gal.  ii.  9. 
The  horror  felt  at  the  massacres  of  a.  d.  64  in  Rome  is  so  vivid  in  the 
Apocalypse  that  the  writer  may  well  have  witnessed  them,  or  at  least 
have  been  in  Rome  (chs.  xiii.,  xvii.).  Patmos  may  have  been  chosen  for 
the  scene  of  these  visions,  as  the  last  port  of  landing  on  the  way  from 
Rome  to  Ephesus,  as  will  appear  when  I  come  to  speak  of  the  Apocalypse. 
I  will  speak  later  of  the  tradition  concerning  John  at  the  Latin  gate.  The 
Fourth  Gospel,  it  is  true,  was  not  written  by  John  ;  yet  we  may  note  the 
passage  in  ch.  xxi.  15-23  (see  "The  Apostles,"  chap,  ii.),  which  was 
doubtless  written  by  some  one  intimate  with  Peter,  and  a  witness  of  his 
death. 

2  See  Introd.  p.  11. 

8  Justin,  Aj)ol.  i.  26,  56;  Iren.  i.  23:  1 ;  Hippol.  Phil.  vi.  20;  ConstiU 
Apost.  vi.  9;  Euseb.  ii.  13,  14.  (Justin  and  Irenaeus,  it  is  true,  often 
rest  on  strangely  mistaken  evidence.)  The  presence  of  Simon  at  Rome  is 
the  base  of  the  apocryphal  Acts  of  Peter  (Tisch.  Acta  apost.  apocr.,  p.  13; 
comp.  Recogn.  ii.  9;  iii.  63,  64),  which  was  at  first  an  Ebionite  scrip- 
ture. Eusebius  (ii.  14)  admits  the  main  fact,  to  which  Irenaeus  seems 
to  refer.  The  way  in  which  the  writer  of  "  Acts "  (viii.  24)  speaks  of 
Simon,  leaving  a  possibility  of  his  conversion,  seems  to  suppose  him  to 
be  yet  living.  The  passage  in  Tacitus  {Ann.  xii.  .52)  does  not  contra- 
dict the  presence  of  Simon  in  Rome  (comp.  id.  xiv.  9;  Hist.  i.  22).  The 
injurious  use  of  Simon's  name  in  the  second  century,  as  an  alias  for  Paul, 
does  not  disprove  either  his  existence  or  his  having  gone  to  Rome.  It 
may  be  noted  that  the  mathematici  (astrologers),  the  Chaldm,  and  the 
yoTjTfs  (magicians  of  every  sort),  were  never  so  abundant  at  Rome  as  now: 
Tac.  Ann.  xii.  52;  Hist.  i.  22;  ii.  62;  Dion  Cass.  Ixv.  1;  Ixvi.  9;  Suet. 
Tih.  36;  Vilell.  14;  Juv.  vi.  542;  Euseb.  Chron.  (Domitian,  Ann.  9); 
Zonaras,  ^nn.  vi.  5. 

4 


50  ANTICHRIST, 

historian  Josephus^  was  at  Rome,  in  a.d.  62  or  63,  to 
obtain  the  liberation  of  certain  Jewish  priests  —  very 
holy  persons,  who  would  eat  nothing  "unclean,"  and  so 
lived  on  nuts  and  figs  when  away  from  home  —  whom 
Felix  had  sent  to  answer  to  the  emperor  for  some  un- 
known charge.  Who  were  these  priests  ?  Had  their 
business  nothing  to  do  with  that  of  Peter  and  Paul  ? 
In  lack  of  evidence,  we  are  free  to  think  as  we 
will  on  all  these  matters.  The  fact  itself,  on  which 
modern  Catholics  rest  the  very  base  of  the  structure  of 
their  faith,  is  far  from  being  certain.^     Still,  as  I  think, 

1  Life,  3. 

2  It  is  quite  sure  that  Peter  was  not  at  Rome  when  Paul  wrote 
"Romans  "  (comp.  Dion,  of  Cor.  in  Euseb.  ii.  25).  Paul  never  interfered 
with  churches  of  the  "circumcision"  (Gal.  ii.  7,  8;  2  Cor.  x.  IG ;  Rom. 
XV.  18-20),  and  there  were  none  in  Rome  when  he  went  there,  as  is  shown 
by  Acts  xxviii.  17-20.  The  reckoning  of  Eusebius  (ii.  14;  Chron.  Claud.  2) 
and  Jerome  {De  vir.  illustr.  1)  as  to  Peter's  arrival  in  Rome  is  thus  errone- 
ous. But  nothing  disproves  his  coming  later,  and  certain  hints  make  this 
likely:  —  1.  A  tradition  of  the  second  century  (Euseb.  ii.  15,  25;  iii.  1; 
vi.  14;  Tgnat.  Ad  Rom.  4 ;  Iren,  iii.  1:1;  3:3;  Tert.  Scorp.  15  ;  Preiser. 
30;  K^pvyfia  UavXov,  in  sequel  to  Cyprian's  Works,  p.  139,  ed.  Rigault), 
not  wholly  without  weight,  though  confused  with  manifest  errors,  and  evi- 
dently implying  an  a  priori  intention  to  make  the  "  prince  of  the  apostles  " 
founder  of  the  church  at  the  world's  capital,  as  was  also  falsely  claimed 
for  that  of  Corinth  ;  2.  The  undoubted  fact  that  Peter  died  in  a  form  of 
martyrdom  hardly  likely  except  at  Rome  (see  chap,  viii.,  below)  ;  3.  The 
epistle  1  Peter,  dated  at  Rome  ("  Babylon  "),  which  is  strong  evidence, 
even  if  written  by  some  other  hand,  which  would  have  employed  that 
date  to  give  it  further  credit;  4.  The  legend  which  prevailed  at  Rome, 
sound  in  substance,  that  Peter  followed  everywhere  in  the  footsteps  of 
Simon  Magus  (i.  e.,  Paul),  and  came  to  Rome  to  strive  against  him: 
Ufpioboi  and  Krjpvyfia  Uerpov,  also  H.  Koi  U.  Krjpvpia,  cited  by  Heracleon  and 
Clem.  Alex.;  Lipsius,  RomiscJie  Petrussagc,  13;  Hilgenfeld,  iNT.  T.  extra 
Can.  rec.  iv.  52;  Euseb.  ii.  14;  Hippol.  Phil.  vii.  20;  Const.  Apost.  vi.  9; 
comp.  Syriac  Kj^pvy/ma :  Cureton,  Anc.  Syr.  doc.  35-41.  — As  to  locali- 
ties in  Rome  attached  to  this  legend  (the  house  of  Pudens,  etc  ),  they 
are  worthless,  though  the  via  nomentana,  mentioned  as  the  place  of  his 
baptising,  is  a  very  ancient  Christian  centre.  (See  Bosio,  Eoma  Soil. 
(1650),  400-402;  Rossi,  id,  i.  189;  Bull.  1867,  37,  48,  49;  Acta  SS.  Maii, 


PETER  AT  ROME.  51 

the  "  Acts  of  Peter/'  told  by  the  Ebionites,  were  fabu- 
lous only  in  details.  The  main  idea  in  these  "Acts"  — 
that  Peter  goes  through  the  world  following  Simon 
Magus  to  refute  him,  carrying  the  true  gospel  which  is 
to  confound  the  doctrine  of  the  impostor/  "following 
him  as  light  the  darkness,  as  knowledge  ignorance, 
as  healing  sickness  '*  —  is  a  true  one ;  though  we  must 
substitute  Paul  for  Simon,  and,  instead  of  the  bitter  hate 
expressed  by  the  Ebionites  for  the  preacher  to  the  gen- 
tiles, imagine  mere  difference  of  opinion  between  the 
two  apostles,  excluding  neither  sympathy  nor  fellow- 
ship in  the  essential  thing,  the  love  of  Jesus.  In  this 
journey,  undertaken  by  the  old  Galilaean  disciple  •  in 
Paul's  footsteps,  we  may  well  admit  that  Peter,  follow- 
ing closely,  touched  at  Corinth,  where  he  already  had  a 
considerable  party ,^  and  greatly  confirmed  the  Jewish 
Christians.  Thus  the  Church  there  could  afterwards 
claim  to  have  been  founded  by  both  the  apostles,  and, 
by  a  trifling  error  of  dates,  maintain  that  they  had 
been  there  together,  and  went  thence  in  company  to 
meet  their  death  in  Rome.^  * 

What  were  the  relations  of  the  two  apostles  while 
in  Rome  ?  Certain  testimonies  would  lead  us  to  think 
that  these  were  quite  friendly.*  We  shall  soon  find 
Mark,  Peter's  amanuensis,  on  the  way  to  Asia,  with  a 

iv.  299:  Pud.  and  Prax.;  Ada  SS.  Jan.  ii.  7:  Marcell.)  The  inscription 
in  Journ.  de  Naples,  Mar.  17,  1870,  11  trionfo  della  Chiesa  cattolicay  is  a 
gross  fraud.     (See  Appendix.) 

^  Horn.  Clem.  ii.  17;  iii.  59. 

«  1  Cor.  i.  12;  iii.  22;  ix.  5. 

8  See  Dionysius  of  Corinth  in  Euseb.  ii.  25.  (The  text  is  uncertain 
and  obscure.)  Origen,  Euseliius,  Epiphanius,  and  Jerome  speak  of  Peter's 
preacliing  in  Asia  Minor,  on  the  very  insufficient  evidence  of  1  Pet.  i.  1. 

*  Comp.  Krjpvyfxa  UaiiKov  in  De  non  itei'um  bapt.,  1.  c. 


52  ANTICHRIST, 

kind  word  from  Paul ;  ^  and  besides,  the  Epistle  of  Peter 
(so-called,  and  quite  probably  genuine)  is  largely  indebted 
to  those  of  Paul.  Two  well-established  points  are  to  be 
kept  in  view  throughout  this  history :  first,  that  a  deep 
line  of  division  —  deeper  than  has  ever  since  marked 
off  any  schism  in  the  Church  —  separated  the  founders 
of  Christianity,  while  the  dispute  between  them,  after 
the  fashion  of  the  time,  was  extremely  bitter ;  ^  and, 
the  second,  that  even  in  their  lifetime  a  loftier  thought 
united  these  hostile  brethren,  in  anticipation  of  that 
grand  union  which  it  was  the  Church's  office  to  bring 
about  after  their  death.  This  twofold  aspect  is  often 
to  be  found  in  religious  movements.  To  understand 
these  divisions  we  must  also  take  into  account  the  hot 
and  sensitive  temper  of  the  Jews,  apt  to  sudden  vio- 
lence of  speech.  In  these  little  pious  groups  there  are 
continual  quarrels  and  reconciliations ;  there  are  sharp 
words  with  no  sundering  of  good-will.  One  is  for  Peter, 
one  for  Paul ;  but  these  divisions  are  of  not  more 
account  than  those  within  our  own  scientific  schools. 
Paul  has  in  this  regard  an  excellent  maxim,^  which 
we  may  render,  "  Let  each  abide  in  the  form  of  in- 
struction he  has  received,"  —  an  admirable  rule,  which 
the  Roman  Church  in  later  time  has  not  always  kept. 
Faithfulness  to  Jesus  was  enough ;  "  confessional " 
divisions  were,  so  to  speak,  a  simple  question  of  an- 
tecedents, independent  of  the  personal  qualities  of  the 
believer. 

It  is,  however,  a  matter  of  importance  —  one  which 

1  Col.  iv.  10. 

^  See  in  Jude  and  in  the  Apocalypse  (chaps,  ii.  and  iii.)  the  fanatical 
traits  ascribed  to  John.  Also  2  John  9, 10]  Iren.  iii.  3,  4 ;  and  the  bitter 
phrases  to  be  found  on  every  page  of  Paul's  writings. 

^  Rom.  vi.  17. 


PETER  AT  ROME,  53 

would  lead  us  to  think  that  a  good  understanding  never 
came  about  between  the  two  apostles  —  that,  in  the 
memory  of  the  generation  following,  Peter  and  Paul 
are  heads  of  two  opposing  parties  in  the  Church ;  and 
that  the  writer  of  the  Apocalypse,  almost  immediately 
after  their  death  (at  least  that  of  Peter),  is,  of  all  the 
Judoeo-Christians,  the  most  bitter  against  Paul,  even 
excluding  him  from  the  number  of  the  apostles  (xxi.l4)/ 
Paul  regarded  himself  as  the  leader  of  the  converted 
pagans,  wherever  they  might  be.  This  was  his  under- 
standing of  the  arrangement  made  at  Antioch ;  but 
the  Judseo-Christians  evidently  took  it  otherwise.  This 
party,  which  had  always  been  strong  at  Rome,  no  doubt 
was  much  reinforced  by  the  coming  of  Peter,  who  be- 
came its  head,  and  head  of  the  church  there,  —  a  rank 
to  which  the  unique  dignity  of  this  city  gave  singular 
importance.  As  we  see  throughout  the  Apocalypse, 
the  part  played  by  Rome  had  in  it  something  provi- 
dential. Owing  to  a  certain  reaction  against  Paul, 
Peter,  as  leader  of  the  opposition,  came  to  be  more  and 
more  regarded  as  chief  of  the  apostles.^  "Chief  of 
the  apostles  in  the  capital  of  the  world!"  —  the  com- 
bination struck  the  fancy  of  the  more  impressible. 
What  could  be  more  telling  ?  Thus  was  already 
formed  that  wide  association  of  ideas  which  for  a 
thousand  years  and  more  was  to  control  the  destinies 
of  humanity.  The  names  Peter  and  Rome  became 
inseparable :  Rome  is  the  predestined  capital  of  Latin 
Christianity  ;  the  legend  of  Peter,  the  first  Pope,  is 
already  sketched,  though  it  will  need  four  or  five 
centuries  for   its  full   development.     Rome,  at   least, 

1  Compare  "  Saint  Paul,"  chap.  xiii.  near  the  end 

2  See  the  letter  of  Clement  to  James  in  the  Clementine  Homilies,  1. 


54  ANTICHRIST. 

had  no  longer  any  doubt,  from  the  day  when  Peter  set 
his  foot  there,  that  this  day  fixed  its  destiny,  and  that 
the  poor  Syrian  who  then  entered  its  gates  established 
a  possession  to  last  for  ages. 

The  moral,  social,  and  political  situation  was  be- 
coming more  strained  from  day  to  day.  Everywhere 
were  heard  tales  of  prodigies  and  disasters.^  The 
Christians,  as  we  see  in  the  Apocalypse,  were  more 
affected  by  these  than  any  others :  the  idea  that  Satan 
is  the  god  of  this  world  struck  deeper  root  among 
them.^  The  public  spectacles  seemed  to  them  devilish, 
—  not  that  they  ever  attended  them,  but  heard  of  them 
in  common  talk.  An  Icarus,  who  in  the  great  wooden 
amphitheatre  pretended  to  float  in  the  air,  but  fell  to 
the  ground  close  to  Nero's  seat,  spattering  him  with 
blood,^  struck  their  fancy  greatly,  and  gave  the  main 
incident  in  their  legend  of  Simon  Magus.  Crime  at 
Kome  touched  the  last  limits  of  the  infernal  sublime ; 
and,  whether  from  love  of  mystery  or  for  precaution 
against  the  police,  it  became  customary  to  speak  of 
the  city  under  the  name  of  Babylon.* 

This  ill-dissembled  antipathy  for  a  world  they  did 
not  know  became  a  characteristic  mark  of  Christians. 
"  Hatred  to  mankind  "  {odium  humani  generis)  was  the 
popular  summary  of  their  doctrine.^     Their  apparent 

1  See  Tac.  Ann.  xiv.  12,  22;  xv.  22.  Suet.  Nero,  36,  39;  Dion  Cass. 
Ixi.  16, 18;  Philost.  Apoll.  iv.  43;  Seneca,  Qucest.  nat.  vi.  1;  Euseb.  Chron. 
Neroy  ann.  7,  9,  10. 

2  See  2  Cor.  iv.  4.     Eph.  vi.  12.    John  xii.  31 ;  xiv.  30. 
*  Suet.  Nero,  12.     See  below,  p.  59. 

,  ^  See  1  Pet.  v.  13;  Apoc.  chs.  xiv.-xviii.;  Carm.  Sihyll.  vl  142,  158. 
The  Jews  were  accustomed  to  apply  to  modern  things  symbolic  names 
taken  from  their  sacred  books  :  thus  "Edom"  signified  both  Rome  and 
the  empire  (Buxtorf,  Lex.  Cknld.,  etc.,  s.  v.  Dnx);  and  the  name  *'Cuth- 
ite  "  was  applied  both  to  Samaritans  and  to  pagans. 
^  Tac.  Aim.  XV.  44  (cf.  Hist.  v.  5)  ;  Suet.  Nero,  16. 


PETER  AT  ROME.  55 

melancholy  was  an  insult  to  "  the  felicity  of  the  age ; " 
their  belief  in  the  approaching  end  of  the  world  was  a 
denial  of  the  ofl&cial  optimism,  which  declared  that  all 
things  were  becoming  new.  The  marks  of  abhorrence 
with  which  they  passed  the  temple-fronts  seemed  to 
hint  that  they  had  it  in  mind  to  destroy  them  by  fire.^ 
These  old  sanctuaries  of  the  Roman  religion  were  very 
dear  to  those  of  patriotic  feeling ;  to  insult  them  was 
to  insult  Evander,  Numa,  the  ancestors  of  the  Roman 
people,  and  the  trophies  of  its  victories.^  The  Chris- 
tians were  charged  with  all  misdeeds;  their  worship 
was  regarded  as  a  superstition,  sombre,  baleful  to  the 
empire ;  many  a  horrid  or  shameful  tale  went  about 
regarding  them  ;  the  most  enlightened  believed  in  these 
tales,  and  regarded  those  whom  they  accused  as  capable 
of  every  crime. 

Those  of  the  new  religion  gained  few  adherents 
except  in  the  lower  classes.  Well-bred  people  avoided 
speaking  of  them  by  name,  or  did  so  with  an 
apology :  "  whom  the  vulgar  called  Christians,"  says 
Tacitus.  But  their  progress  among  the  people  was 
astonishing :  you  might  call  it  an  inundation,  when  the 
water,  long  dammed  up,  burst  its  dikes,  to  use  the 
historian's  phrase.  The  church  at  Rome  was  an  entire 
population  [midtitudo  ingens).  Court  and  town  began 
to  talk  of  it  as  a  serious  thing ;  its  advance  made  for 
a  time  the  news  of  the  day.  Conservatives  thought 
with  a  kind  of  terror  of  the  cesspool  of  filth  which 
they  imagined  in  the  low  grounds  of  the  city ;  they 
spoke  with  rage  of  evil  weeds  that  could  not  be  rooted 
out,  which  sprang  up  as  fast  as  they  could  be  torn  away. 

^  1  Pet.  iv.  4  ;  Tac.  Hist.  v.  5  :  pessimus  quisquCy  spretis  religionibus  patriis. 
2  Tac.  Ann.  xv.  41,  44;  HisU  v.  5. 


S6  ANTICHRIST, 

"  A  race  of  men  of  a  new  and  wicked  superstition/' 
says  Suetonius.  "  This  sort  of  people/'  says  Tacitus, 
"  will  always  be  outlawed,  and  will  always  stay  among 
us ; "  "  often  checked,  but  most  abundant  in  growth/' 
adds  Dion  Cassius/ 

Popular  malice  invented  impossible  crimes  to  be 
charged  against  the  Christians.  They  were  made 
responsible  for  every  public  disaster;  they  were  ac- 
cused of  preaching  revolt  against  the  emperor,  and 
inciting  an  insurrection  of  slaves.^  In  common  opinion 
the  Christian  came  to  be  what  the  Jew  was  at  times  in 
the  Middle  Age,  —  the  scapegoat  of  every  calamity,  a 
man  who  thinks  only  of  mischief,  a  poisoner  of  springs, 
an  eater  of  children's  flesh,  a  kindler  of  conflagrations.^ 
At  every  fresh  crime,  the  slightest  hint  would  cause 
a  Christian  to  be  arrested,  or  even  put  to  torture.  The 
mere  name  was  often  enough  to  lead  to  his  arrest.  If 
he  was  seen  to  hold  aloof  from  pagan  sacrifices,  he 
was  insulted.*  The  age  of  persecution  was  already 
begun,  to  last,  with  brief  intervals,  till  the  time  of 
Constantine.  In  the  thirty  years  since  the  religion 
was  first  preached,  only  Jews  had  been  its  persecutors ; 
against  them  it  had  been  defended  by  the  Komans, 
who  were  now  its  persecutors  in  their  turn.  The 
terror  and  the  hate  spread  from  the  capital  to  the 
provinces,  and  evoked  the  wildest  outrage.^     With  this 

1  See  Suet.  Nero,  16.  Tac.  Hist.  i.  22;  Ann.  xii.  52.  Dion  Cass, 
xxxvii.  17. 

2  Rom.  xiii.  1-5;  1  Pet  ii.  18-18. 

8  Tac.  Ann.  xv.  44;  Suet.  Nero,  16;  Seneca,  in  St.  Augustine's  Civ. 
Dei,  vi.  11 ;  1  Pet.  ii.  12,  15 ;  iii.  16.     2  Pet.  ii.  12. 

*  1  Pet.  iv.  4. 

6  1  Pet.  i.  6  ;  ii.  19, 20 ;  iii.  14 ;  iv.  12-14 ;  v.  8-10.  Jas.  ii.  6.  TertuU. 
Ad  nationes,  i.  7. 


PETER  AT  ROME.  ,57 

were  mingled  atrocious  jestings :  the  walls  of  the 
places  where  the  Christians  met  were  covered  with 
insulting  or  filthy  inscriptions  against  the  brethren  and 
sisters.^  The  fashion  of  representing  Jesus  as  a  man 
with  an  ass's  head  was  perhaps  already  adopted.^ 

No  one  doubts  now  that  these  charges  of  crime  and 
infamy  were  calumnies.  We  have  numerous  reasons 
to  believe  that  the  Christian  leaders  gave  not  the  least 
ground  for  the  ill-will  which  was  presently  to  bring  upon 
them  such  brutal  atrocities.  All  the  party  leaders  in 
the  Christian  community  were  agreed  as  to  the  attitude 
to  be  held  towards  the  Roman  authorities.  In  theory, 
these  magistrates  might  be  regarded  as  ministers  of 
Satan,  since  they  were  protectors  of  idolatry  and  the 
props  of  a  world  given  over  to  Satan ;  ^  but  in  practice 
they  were  treated  with  entire  respect.  The  Ebionite 
faction  alone  shared  the  exalted  temper  of  the  Zealots 
and  other  Jewish  fanatics.  Towards  the  State  the 
apostles  appear  to  have  been  conservative  and  legiti- 

1  Rossi,  Bull,  di  arch,  crist.,  1864,  69,  70. 

^  M.  Rossi  (id.  p.  72)  thinks  he  has  read  on  the  walls  of  a  building  in 
Pompeii  which  seems  to  have  served  for  Christian  gatherings :  Mulus 
hie  muscellas  docuit  (see  Zangemeister,  Inscr.  pariet.  2016).  Comp.  the 
graven  stone  published  by  Stefanone  (GemmcB,  Venice,  1646,  tab.  30), 
representing  an  ass  posing  as  school-teacher  before  a  group  of  children 
bent  in  obeisance  (republished  by  Fr.  MUnter,  Primordia  eccles.  A/ric, 
Ilafn.  1829,  p.  218;  and  by  F.  X.  Kraus,  Das  Spott-crucifix  vom  Palatin, 
Vienna,  1869,  transl.  by  Ch.  de  Linas,  Arras,  1870).  The  museum  of 
Luynes  (Bibl.  nat.  cab.  des  antiques,  terra  cotta,  779)  has  a  tablet  from 
Syria  representing  Jesus  caricatured  as  a  little  man  in  a  long  gown,  hold- 
ing a  book,  with  a  big  ass's-head,  long  ears,  and  eyes  to  which  it  is 
sought  to  give  a  leering  and  mystical  expression.  Comp.  also  the  [well- 
known]  grotesque  crucifix  of  the  Palatine  (Garrucci,  11  crocijisso  graffito, 
Rome,  1857;  Kraus-Linas,  as  above:  Comptes  rendus  deVAcad.  des  inscr., 
1870,  32-36).  See  TertuU.  Apol.  16;  Minut.  Felix,  9,  28;  Celsus  in 
Origen,  Contra  Celsum,  vi.  31. 

8  Luke  iv.  6 ,  John  xii.  31 5  Eph.  vi.  12. 


58  ANTICHRIST, 

mist.  Far  from  urging  the  slave  to  revolt,  they  insist 
on  his  submission  to  his  master,  however  stern  and 
harsh,  as  if  he  were  serving  Christ  in  person ;  and  this 
not  under  compulsion,  to  escape  chastisement,  but  by 
conscience,  because  God  so  wills.  God  himself  stands 
behind  the  master.  Slavery  was  so  far  from  seeming 
to  them  against  nature  that  Christians  held  slaves, 
even  Christian  slaves.^  We  have  seen  Paul  restrain 
the  impulse  towards  a  political  rising,  in  A.  D.  57,  urging 
upon  the  faithful  in  Rome,  and  doubtless  many  other 
churches,  submission  to  "the  powers  that  be,"  what- 
ever their  source,  and  laying  down  the  maxim  that  he 
who  bears  the  sword  [the  military  police]  is  a  servant 
of  God,  to  be  dreaded  only  by  the  wTong-doer.  Peter, 
on  his  part,  was  the  most  placid  of  men ;  we  shall  soon 
find  the  rule  of  submission  to  the  powers  taught  in  his 
name,  almost  in  the  very  words  of  Paul.^  The  school 
that  later  gathered  about  John  held  the  same  view 
as  to  the  divine  origin  of  sovereignty.^  The  leaders 
dreaded  nothing  more  than  to  see  their  followers 
mixed  up  in  illegal  acts,  whose  odium  would  fall  back 
upon  the  entire  body.*  The  language  of  the  apostles 
at  this  supreme  moment  was  the  language  of  supreme 
prudence.  A  few  wretches  put  to  torture,  a  few  slaves 
under  the  lash,  w^ould  seem  to  have  broken  out  in 
insults,  calling  their  masters  idolaters,  and  threatening 
them  with  the  wrath  of  God.^  Others,  zealous  to 
excess,  declaimed  aloud  against  the  pagans,  reproach- 
ing  them  with   their  vices;   but   their  more  sensible 

^  1  Pet.  ii.  18.    Col.  iii.  22,  25;  iv.  1.    Eph.  vi.  5-9,  with  the  episode 
of  Onesimus. 

2  1  Pet.  ii.  13,  14.  8  John  xix.  11. 

*  1  Pet.  ii.  11,  12;  iv.  15.  »  1  Pet.  ii.  23. 


PETER  AT  ROME.  59 

brethren  wittily  called  them  "  bishops  (overseers)  of  the 
outsiders"  {aXXoTpLoeirLO-KOTroL),  Cruel  mishaps  befell 
some  of  these  intermeddlers ;  but  the  sober  directors 
of  the  body,  far  from  applauding  them,  would  tell 
them,  plainly  enough,  that  they  had  got  only  what 
they  deserved.^ 

The  condition  of  the  Christians  was  rendered  harder 
by  all  sorts  of  perplexities  which  there  is  not  evidence 
enough  to  enable  us  to  disentangle.  The  Jews  were 
very  influential  with  the  emperor  and  Poppaea.^  The 
diviners  (jiiathematici),  among  the  rest  one  Balbillus  of 
Ephesus,  thronged  about  the  emperor,  and  gave  him 
atrocious  counsels,  under  pretence  of  exercising  that 
part  of  their  skill  which  consisted  in  turning  aside 
strokes  of  ill-fortune  and  evil  presages.^  The  legend 
of  Simon  Magus  brings  his  name  into  this  circle  of 
sorcerers,  and  may  possibly  have  some  foundation  in 
fact,  though  very  doubtful.*  The  writer  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse says  much  of  a  "  false  prophet,"  who  is  repre- 
sented as  an  ally  of  Nero,  a  wonder-worker  who  makes 
fire  fall  from  the  sky,  who  makes  graven  images  live 
and  speak,  and  marks  men  with  "the  mark  of  the 
Beast."  ^  It  may  be  that  Balbillus  is  here  meant ;  still, 
it  is  noticeable  that  the  prodigies  of  the  false  prophet 
in  the  Apocalypse  are  much  like  the  jugglery  ascribed 

1  1  Pet.  iv.  15.  2  See  below,  pp.  141, 142. 

«  Suet.  Nero,  34,  .36,  40;  Tac.  Hist.  i.  22. 

*  See  the  Pseudo-Clementine  HomUies,  ii.  34 ;  Recogn.  i.  74;  iii.  47,  57, 
63,  64;  "  Acts  of  Peter  »  (spurious),  Tisch.  3931 ;  "  Linus  "  in  Bihl.  max. 
patrum,  ii.  67;  "  Marcellus  "  in  Fabricius,  Cod.  apocr.  N.  T.,  iii.  635  et 
seq. ;  "Abdias,"  i.  16,  17;  Const,  apostol.  vi.  9;  Iren.  i.  23:  1;  Euseb. 
ii.  14;  "Hegesippus,'*  De  excid.  Hieros.  iii.  2;  Epiphan.  xxi.  5;  Arno- 
bius.  Adv.  gentes,  ii.  13 ;  Philastr.  Hcer.  29 ;  Sulp.  Sev.  ii.  28,  etc.  Comp. 
Rossi,  Bull.  1867,  70,  71. 

*  Apoc.  xiii.  14-17 ;  xvi.  13 ;  xix.  20. 


6o  ANTICHRIST. 

to  Simon  in  the  legend.^  The  emblem  of  a  monster 
that  spoke  like  a  dragon  and  had  "two  horns  like  a 
lamb,"  designating  the  false  prophet  (xiii.  11),  is  far 
better  suited  to  a  false  Messiah  like  Simon  of  Gitton 
than  to  a  mere  conjurer.  And  besides,  the  tale  of 
Simon  east  down  from  the  air  is  not  unlike  an  accident 
which  happened  in  the  Circus  under  Nero  to  an  ac- 
crobat  who  played  the  part  of  Icarus.^  The  constant 
practice  of  the  Apocalypse  to  speak  in  enigmas  makes 
such  a  reference  very  obscure ;  but  we  shall  not  err  if 
we  look  sharply  behind  every  line  of  this  strange  book 
for  allusions  to  the  pettiest  incidents  or  anecdotes  of 
Nero's  reign. 

Further,  the  heart  of  the  Christian  body  was  never 
more  burdened,  more  palpitating,  than  now.  The  dis- 
ciples believed  themselves  to  be  in  a  transitory  state, 
of  very  brief  duration.  Each  day  they  looked  for  the 
appearing  of  their  Lord  in  judgment.  "  He  is  coming  ! 
Yet  one  hour !  He  is  close  at  hand  !  "  Such  was  the 
common  speech  among  them.^  The  martyr-spirit  — 
the  thought  that  a  martyr  glorifies  Christ  by  his  death, 
and  that  this  death  is  a  victory  —  was  already  diffused 
everywhere.*  To  a  pagan,  on  the  other  hand,  the  flesh 
of  Christians  seemed  the  natural  prey  of  the  tormentor. 
A  very  popular  play  of  this  time,  called  "  Laureolus." 
exhibited  the  chief  actor  (a  sort  of  hypocritical  knave) 
as  crucified  upon  the  stage  amid  the  plaudits  of  the 

^  Recogn.   ii.  9;  Philos.  vi.  20;  Const.  Apost.  vi.  9. 

2  Suet.  Nero,  12;  Dion  Chrys.  Or.  xxi.  9;  Juv.  iii.  78-80.  Comp. 
Recogn.  ii.  9.    Juvenal  speaks  of  the  false  Icarus  as  a  Greek.    (See  p.  54.) 

8  Phil.  iv.  5;  Jas.  v.  8 ;  1  Pet.  iv.  7;  Heb.  x.  37;  1  John  ii.  18. 

*  Phil.  1.  20;  John  xxi.  19.  Comp.  the  expression  of  Caius,  "tro- 
phies "  of  the  apostles  [referring  to  the  martyrdom  of  Peter  and  Paul] 
in  Euseb.  ii.  25. 


PETER  AT  ROME.  6i 

spectators,  and  devoured  by  a  bear.  This  was  before 
Christianity  was  brought  to  Rome;  it  was  exhibited 
[under  Caligula]  in  A.  D.  41 ;  but  it  seems  to  have  been 
applied  to  the  Christian  martyrs,  and  the  diminutive 
Laureolus,  answering  to  Stephanos  ["wreath"],  might 
invite  such  comparisons.-^ 

1  Suet.  Caius^  57 ;  Juvenal,  viii.  186,  187 ;  Martial,  Speciacula,  7. 


CHAPTEK  III. 

THE   CHURCHES   IN  JUD^A.  —  A.  D.  62. 

The  hostility  encountered  by  the  Christian  community 
in  Eome,  perhaps  also  in  Greece  and  Asia  Minor,  was 
felt  as  far  as  Judaea.^  But  here  the  persecution  had 
other  grounds.  The  wealthy  Sadducees,  the  Temple 
aristocracy,  showed  extreme  bitterness  against  the 
pious  poor,  and  blasphemed  the  name  of  Christian.^ 
About  this  time  there  was  circulated  a  letter  of  James, 
"servant  of  God  and  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  ad- 
dressed "  to  the  twelve  tribes  of  the  Dispersion."  ^  This 
is  one  of  the  finest  pieces  of  early  Christian  literature, 
recalling  now  the  Gospels,  now  the  serene  and  placid 
wisdom  of  Ecclesiastes :  especially  the  parable  of  the 
Tongue  in  chapter  iii.  is  a  charming  fragment  in  the  old 
Hebrew  spirit.  Its  authorship  is  doubtful,  as  it  must 
always  be  in  such  cases,  considering  how  many  letters 
were  in  circulation  of  supposed  apostolic  origin.*  The 
party  of  Jewish  Christians,  accustomed  to  appeal  at 
will  to  the  authority  of  James,  may  have  ascribed  to 
him  this  manifesto,  in  which  the  motive  clearly  is  to 
withstand  innovators.^     If  James  had  any  share  in  it, 

^  James  i.  2-4,  12;  iv.  9;  v.  7,  8.     Both  this  epistle  and  that  of  Peter 
begin  with  an  exhortation  to  patience. 

2  Ibid.  ii.  6,  7  ;  v.  1-6.  «  See  chap.  v.  post. 

*  2  Tliess.  ii.  2. 

6  Comp.  Rom.  iii.  27,  28;  iv.  2-5;  v.  1,  with  James  ii.  21-24. 


THE   CHURCHES  IN  JUDjEA.  63 

at  least  it  was  not  drafted  by  his  hand.  It  is  un- 
certain whether  he  knew  Greek,  his  mother  tongue 
being  Syriac;^  while  this  epistle  is  much  the  best 
piece  of  writing  in  the  New  Testament,  its  Greek  being 
pure  and  almost  classic,  as  is  also  that  of  Jude.  Apart 
from  this,  it  agrees  perfectly  with  what  we  know 
of  James's  character.  The  writer  is  surely  a  Jewish 
Rabbi;  he  holds  strongly  by  the  Law;  he  uses  the 
word  "  synagogue ; "  ^  he  is  an  opponent  of  Paul.  The 
epistle  is  in  tone  like  the  Synoptics,  which,  as  we 
shall  see  hereafter,  proceeded  from  the  family  of  Jesus, 
whose  head  was  James,  "  the  Lord's  brother."  And 
still,  Jesus  is  mentioned  in  it  by  name  only  twice  or 
thrice,  and  then  simply  as  the  Messiah,  with  none  of 
the  lofty  flights  of  hyperbole  already  multiplied  by  the 
ardent  imagination  of  Paul. 

James  —  or  the  Jewish  moralist  who  speaks  with  the 
authority  of  his  name  —  brings  us  at  once  into  the 
humble  love-feast  of  the  persecuted  brethren.  Let 
them  rejoice  in  the  trials  of  their  faith ;  for  when  put 
to  the  proof  faith  yields  patience,  and  patience  is  the 
condition  of  all  perfect  work ;  he  who  endures  the  test 
will  receive  the  crown  of  life.^  But  our  teacher's  heart 
is  full  of  the  contrast  between  rich  and  poor.  Some 
rivalry  must  have  arisen  at  Jerusalem  between  the 
brethren  favoured  and  those  cast  down  by  fortune; 
and  the  poor  complained  of  the  exactions  of  the  rich 
with  their  sumptuous  pride,  groaning  among  them- 
selves.* To  this  class-bitterness  he  makes  the  following 
appeal :  — 

^  Euseb.  Demonstr.  evang.  iii.  5,  7. 

2  James  ii.  2,  rendered  "  assembly;"  in  v.  14,  eKK'Xrjala. 

8  James  i.  2-4,  12.  *  Ibid.  iv.  11;  v.  9. 


64  ANTICHRIST. 

Let  the  brother  that  is  humble  reflect  on  his  high  privilege, 
and  the  rich  on  his  frail  condition,  for  wealth  shall  pass 
like  the  flower  of  the  field.^  .  .  .  Brothers,  let  there  be  no 
respect  of  persons  in  the  faith  of  our  glorious  Lord,  the  Christ. 
Suppose  a  man  come  into  your  synagogue  with  a  gold  ring, 
dressed  in  fine  apparel,  and  there  come  in  a  poor  man  in 
shabby  clothing,  and  you  say  to  one,  "  Sit  comfortably  here," 
and  to  the  other,  "  Stand  out  there,  or  here  below  my  foot- 
stool : "  is  not  that  making  distinctions  among  brethren,  and 
judging  with  wicked  thoughts  ?  My  dear  brothers,  listen :  has 
not  God  chosen  the  poor  of  the  world  to  make  them  rich  in 
faith,  heirs  of  the  kingdom  which  He  has  promised  to  those 
who  love  him  ?  And  yet  you  have  scorned  the  poor !  Do 
not  rich  men  lord  it  over  you,  and  drag  you  before  the  law- 
courts  ?  Do  they  not  thus  insult  that  noble  name  which  is 
given  to  you  all  alike  ?  ^ 

Pride,  corruption,  brutality,  luxury  among  the 
wealthy  Sadducees,  had,  in  fact,  come  to  their  worst 
excess.^  Women  would  buy  even  the  high-priest's  office 
from  King  Agrippa  with  gold  for  their  husbands.* 
Martha,  daughter  of  Boethus,  one  of  these  simoniacs, 
when  she  went  to  see  her  husband  in  state,  had  a 
carpet  spread  from  her  house-door  to  the  sanctuary.^ 
Thus  the  priesthood  was  wonderfully  degraded.  These 
secular  priests  were  ashamed  of  the  holiest  duties  of 
their  office.  The  rite  of  sacrifice  became  repulsive  to 
these  dainty  gentlemen,  condemned  thus  to  tasks  of 
butcher  and  flesher !     Some  of  them  would  put  on  silk 

1  James  i.  9-11.  2  /j^-j.  X\.  1-7. 

8  Babyl.  Talm.  loma^  9  a,  35  &  ;  Derenbourg,  Hist,  de  la  Palestine, 
234-236. 

^  For  example,  Martha,  daughter  of  Boethus,  for  Jesns  (Joshua),  son 
of  Gamala.  Mishna,  Jebamoth,  vi.  4;  Babyl.  Talm.  id.  61a;  loma,  18  a; 
Jos.  Antiq.  xx.  9:  4,  7;  Derenbourg,  248,  249. 

6  Midrash  Eka,  i.  16. 


THE  CHURCHES  IN  JUD^A.  65 

gloves,  SO  as  not  to  spoil  the  delicacy  of  their  hands  by 
the  touch  of  victims.  The  whole  talmudic  tradition  — 
just  as  the  Gospels  and  the  Epistle  of  James  do  —  shows 
us  the  priests  of  these  last  years  before  the  ruin  of  the 
Temple  as  gluttonous,  luxurious,  hard-hearted  towards 
the  poor.  The  Talmud  has  a  fabulous  list  of  what  was 
needed  to  maintain  the  high-priest's  table,  —  not  to  be 
taken  literally,  but  as  evidence  of  the  common  opinion. 
Four  cries,  said  tradition,  went  forth  from  the  confines 
of  the  Temple :  the  first,  "  Go  forth  from  hence,  sons 
of  Eli,  for  you  defile  the  Temple  of  the  Eternal ; "  the 
second,  ^'  Go  forth  from  hence,  Issachar  of  Kaphar- 
Barkai,  who,  having  care  only  for  yourself,  profane 
the  victims  holy  to  the  Lord"  (that  is,  by  wearing 
silk  gloves  when  engaged  in  sacrifice);  the  third, 
"Open  ye,  0  gates,  that  Ishmael  may  come  in,  the 
son  of  Phabi,  disciple  of  Phinehas,  that  he  may  fulfil 
the  ofiice  of  the  priest;"^  the  fourth,  "Open  ye,  0 
gates,  that  John  may  come  in,  the  son  of  Nebedaeus, 
disciple  of  gluttons,  to  gorge  himself  with  victims."^ 
A  sort  of  chant,  or  curse  upon  the  priestly  houses, 
was  current  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  which  ran 
thus :  — 

Plague  be  upon  the  house  of  Bogthus  — 
A  plague  upon  them  by  reason  of  their  clubs  ! 

Plague  be  upon  the  house  of  Hanan  (Annas)  — 
A  plague  upon  them  by  reason  of  their  plots  I 

^  The  allusion  is  to  the  son  of  Eli,  who  made  profit  for  himself  from 
the  sacrifice  [1  Sam.  ii.  14],  not  to  the  model  priest  of  the  time  of  Moses 
[Num.  XXV.  7].  Phinehas  the  son  of  Eli  is  not,  it  is  true,  a  legendary 
person ;  his  brother  Hophni  has  as  good  claim  to  remembrance  as  he ; 
but  the  name  may  have  been  chosen  for  a  play  of  words  [the  name 
meaning  "  brazen-mouth  "].     See  Derenbourg,  233,  234,  note. 

2  Babyl.  Talm.,  Pesachim,  57  a;  Kerithoth,  28  a. 

5 


66  '  ANTICHRIST, 

Plague  be  upon  the  house  of  Cantheras  — 
A  plague  upon  them  by  reason  of  their  shames  (Jzalams) ! 

Plague  be  upon  the  house  of  Ishmael  son  of  Phabi  — 
A  plague  upon  them  by  reason  of  their  fists ! 

These  are  high-priests  ;  their  sons  are  treasurers ; 
Their  sons-in-law  overseers ;  their  slaves  beat  us  with  clubs !  ^ 

It  was  open  war  between  these  wealthy  pontiffs, 
friends  of  the  Romans,  seizing  fat  ofrices  for  them- 
selves and  their  kindred,  and  the  poor  priests  upheld 
by  the  people.  Bloody  quarrels  broke  out  daily.  The 
shameless  insolence  of  the  pontifical  families  went  so 
far  as  to  send  and  seize  from  the  threshing-floors  tithes 
that  belonged  to  the  upper  priesthood,  beating  those 
who  resisted,  and  reducing  to  misery  the  poorer 
clergy.^  Conceive  the  wrath  of  the  pious  man,  the 
Jew-democrat,  rich  in  the  promise  of  all  the  Prophets, 
when  thus  abused  in  the  Temple  —  his  own  house !  — 
by  the  insolent  lackeys  of  these  self-indulgent  and 
unbelieving  priests !  The  Christians  gathered  about 
James  made  common  cause  with  these  poor  victims, 
holy  men  (hasidim)  as  they  too  were,  and  held  in 
favour  by  the  people.  Beggary  came,  as  it  were,  to 
be  a  virtue  and  a  mark  of  patriotism.  The  rich  were 
friends  of  the  Romans ;  great  wealth,  in  fact,  depended 
on  Roman  favour,  so  that  one  could  hardly  prosper 
but  by  a  sort  of  apostasy  and  treason.  To  hate  the 
rich  became  a  mark  of  piety.  Tlie  saints  {hasidim) 
must  needs  starve,  or  else  work  on  those  haughty 
structures  of  the  Herodians,  in  which  they  saw  only  a 
pompous  display  of  vanity ;   and    so  they  considered 

1  Tosifta,  Menachothy  s.  f. ;  Babyl.  Talm.  PesacUm^  57  a;  Derenbourg, 
233  et  seq. 

2  Jos.  Antiq.  XX.  8:  8;  9:  2. 


THE  CHURCHES  IN  JUDuEA,  67 

themselves  victims  of  the  infidels,  while  "  poor  man  " 
passed  as  a  synonym  for  "  saint."  ^  Listen  to  the 
following :  — 

And  now,  you  rich  men,  weep  and  wail  for  the  wretched- 
ness that  is  coming  upon  you !  Your  riches  are  rotten  ;  your 
clothing  is  moth-eaten;  your  gold  and  silver  are  tarnished, 
and  the  rust  of  them  will  testify  against  you  [that  your  guilt 
is  of  long  standing],  and  will  eat  into  your  flesh  like  fire. 
You  have  been  heaping  up  wealth  in  these  last  days  [when 
the  end  of  all  things  is  close  at  hand] .  See !  the  wage  of  the 
workmen  who  have  mown  your  fields,  which  you  have  kept 
back  from  them,  cries  out,  and  the  complaint  of  your  reapers 
has  reached  the  ears  of  the  Lord  of  hosts !  You  have  lived  in 
luxury  and  wantonness  on  the  earth ;  you  have  fattened  your- 
selves [like  cattle]  for  the  day  of  slaughter;  you  have  con- 
demned —  you  have  destroyed  —  the  honest  man  who  offered 
no  resistance.^ 

In  these  strange  pages  we  see  the  simmering  of 
that  spirit  of  social  revolution  which  in  a  few  years 
was  to  bathe  Jerusalem  in  blood.  Nowhere  else  is 
that  feeling  of  aversion  for  the  world  which  was  the 
soul  of  primitive  Christianity  expressed  with  such 
energy  as  here.  "  To  keep  himself  unspotted  from  the 
world  "  ^  is  the  supreme  precept ;  "  the  friendship  of 
the  world  is  enmity  with  God  ; "  *  every  natural  desire 
{iniOvfjiia)  is  a  vanity,  an  illusion,  a  seed  of  death.^ 
The  end  is  so  near  !  Why  fall  out  with  one  another  ? 
Why  go  to  law  with  one  another  ?  The  true  judge  is 
near,  standing  at  the  door.^ 

Come  now,  you  who  say,  "  To-day  or  to-morrow  we  will  go 
to  the  city  close  by,  and  stay  there  a  year,  trading  and  making 

^  See  "  Life  of  Jesus,"  chap.  xi.  *  James  v.  1-6. 

«  Ibid.  i.  27.  *  Ibid.  iv.  4. 

6  Ibid.  i.  14 ;  iv.  1.  «  Ibid.  iv.  1 ;  v.  7-9. 


6S  ANTICHRIST, 

profit,"  —  not  knowing  what  will  happen  to-morrow;  for  what 
is  your  life  ?  it  is  a  vapor  that  appears  a  little  while  and  then 
vanishes,  —  instead  of  saying,  "  If  the  Lord  will  and  we  are 
alive,  we  will  do  this  or  that."^ 

When  he  speaks  of  humility,  patience,  mercy,  the 
exaltation  of  the  poor,  the  joy  of  those  who  mourn, 
James  seems  to  have  had  in  memory  the  very  words  of 
Jesus.^  Still,  as  we  see,  he  holds  close  to  the  Law.^ 
A  whole  paragraph  of  his  epistle*  is  devoted  to 
.warning  the  faithful  against  Paul's  doctrine  of  salva- 
tion by  faith  and  the  worthlessness  of  works :  in  this 
he  shows  himself  an  Ebionite.^  A  phrase  of  his^ 
directly  contradicts  one  in  KomansJ  Contrary  to  the 
apostle  of  the  gentiles,^  the  apostle  of  Jerusalem  ^  in- 
sists that  Abraham  was  saved  by  works,  and  that 
"  faith  without  works  is  dead."  "  The  devils  also 
believe,"  but  they  are  not  saved.  Departing  from  his 
usual  moderation,  James  here  calls  his  opponent  an 
"  empty  man."  ^^  In  one  or  two  other  places  ^^  we  may 
find  an  allusion  to  debates  already  dividing  the  Church, 
which  a  few  centuries  later  crowd  the  history  of 
religious  opinion. 

A  spirit  of  lofty  piety  and  touching  charity  filled 
this  church  of  the  saints.  "Keligion  pure  and  un- 
defiled,"  said  James,  "is  to  watch  over  the  fatherless 

^  James  iv.  13-15.     Comp.  Luke  xii.  15-21. 

2  lUd.Yi.  8;  iv.  6-10;  v.  7,  8. 

«  Ibid.  ii.  10,  11;  iv.  11.  ^  Ihid.  ii.  14-20. 

6  See  Hippolytus,  Phil.  vii.  34;  x.  22.  «  James  ii.  24. 

7  Rom.  iii.  28.  «  Ihid.  iv.  1-5. 
9  James  ii.  22-24. 

i<>  Ihid.  ii.  20.    Compare  the  sayiug  of  R.  Simeon,  a  contemporary  of 
James:  Pirke  Ahoth,  i.  17. 
11  Ibid.  i.  22-25;  V.  19,20. 


THE   CHURCHES  IN  JUDAEA,  69 

and  widows  in  their  distress."  ^  The  power  of  healing 
sickness,  chiefly  by  anointing  with  oil,^  was  considered 
as  of  common  right  among  the  faithful.^  The  use  of 
oil,  with  prayer,  in  cases  of  sickness,  has  always  been 
a  favourite  Semitic  practice,  and  is  still  found  among 
the  Arabs ;  even  non-believers  acknowledged  this  as  a 
special  gift  among  the  Christians.*  The  elders  were 
thought  to  have  this  gift  in  the  highest  degree,  and 
thus  came  to  be  a  sort  of  spiritualist  doctors ;  and  the 
practice  was  held  in  much  esteem  by  James  himself. 
In  this  we  find  the  germ  of  most  of  the  Catholic 
sacraments.  Confession  of  sins,  long  practised  among 
the  Jews,*^  was  considered  an  excellent  means  of  pardon 
and  healing, — two  things  held  inseparable  in  the  belief 
of  that  time.^     Thus:  — 

If  any  one  among  you  is  suffering,  let  him  pray ;  if  any 
one  is  cheerful,  let  him  sing ;  if  any  one  is  sick,  let  him  call 
the  elders  of  the  church,  and  let  them  pray,  anointing  him 
with  oil  in  the  name  of  the  Lord :  the  prayer  of  faith  will 
heal  the  sick,  and  the  Lord  will  restore  him,  and  if  he  has 
committed  sin  it  will  be  forgiven.  Confess  your  faults  to  one 
another,  and  pray  for  one  another,  that  you  may  be  cured. 
The  prayer  of  a  just  man,  when  in  earnest,  has  great  power.^ 

1  James  i.  27.  «  lUd.  v.  14. 

*  Corap.  Gregory  of  Tours,  i.  41. 

*  See  the  accounts  of  healings  wrought  by  minim  of  Caphar-Nahum 
(Christians)  in  the  Tahnud.  The  Healer  is  almost  always  James  (Jacob 
of  Caphar-Shekania,  of  Caphar-Naboria,  of  Caphar-Hannania),  and  the 
healing  is  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  son  of  Pandera  (Midrash  Koheleth,  i.  8; 
vii.  26;  Babyl.  Talm.  Ahoda  zara,  27  b:  Jerus.  Talm.  id.  ii.  40 rf;  Shab- 
bath,  xiv.  s.  f.  These  traditions  refer  to  the  first  century.  Comp.  "  Life 
of  Jesus,"  448,  note  2. 

^  2  Sam.  xii.  13  ;  Lev.  v.  1 ;  Ps.  xxxii. ;  Jos.  Aniiq.  viii.  5:6;  Mishna, 
loma,  iii.  9;  iv.  2;  vi.  3. 

«  Matt.  iii.  6;  Mark  i.  5;  Acts  xix.  18;  "Life  of  Jesus,"  261. 
T  James  v.  13-10. 


70  ANTICHRIST. 

The  apocryphal  books  of  visions,  vividly  expressing 
the  popular  religious  passions,  were  eagerly  received 
among  this  little  group  of  Jewish  enthusiasts.-^  Rather, 
they  sprang  up  side  by  side  with  it,  almost  in  its  very 
heart,  so  that  it  is  often  hard  to  distinguish  them  in 
quality  from  the  genuine  New  Testament  writings.^ 
These  little  books,  of  yesterday's  birth,  were  seriously 
taken  as  the  very  words  of  Enoch,  Baruch,  or  Moses. 
The  strangest  notions  about  hell,  the  rebel  angels,  the 
wicked  giants  who  caused  the  Flood,  flowed  out  widely, 
having  their  chief  source  in  the  books  of  Enoch.^  In 
all  these  fables  there  were  vivid  allusions  to  the  events 
of  the  day.  The  prophetic  Noah,  the  pious  Enoch, 
incessantly  predicting  the  Deluge  to  men  incapable  of 
understanding,  who  all  the  while  go  on  eating,  drink- 
ing, marrying,  and  heaping  up  riches,*  —  who  are  they 
but  seers  of  these  latter  days,  vainly  warning  a  frivo- 
lous generation,  that  will  not  acknowledge  the  end  of 
all  things  to  be  near  ?  A  new  chapter,  a  period  of  life 
beneath  the  earth,  is  now  added  to  the  legend  of  Jesus. 
The  question  is  raised,  What  did  he  do  during  the 
three  days  he  passed  within  the  tomb?^  They  would 
have  it  that  in  this  interval  he  went  down  among  the 
shades,  giving  battle  to  Death  where  were  the  "  spirits 
in  prison  "  of  the  rebellious  and  unbelieving,  preaching 
to  the  phantoms  and  the  demons,  and  opening  the  way 

1  Jude  6,  9,  14,  15;  1  Pet.  iii.  19,  20. 

2  See  "  Life  of  Jesus,"  41,  42. 

«  1  Pet.  iii.  19,  20,  22 ;  Jude  6,  9  ;  Rev.  xx.  7;  2  Pet.  ii.  4,  11 ;  Enoch, 
ch.  vi.  et  seq. ;  comparing  Gen.  v.  22;  vi.  1,  2  :  Stephen  of  Byzantium, 
8.  V.  'Jkoviov. 

*  Luke  xvii.  26,  27. 

^  For  the  first  hint  of  the  working  of  imagination  in  this  direction,  see 
Acts  ii.  24,  27,  31. 


THE   CHURCHES  IN  JUD^A,  ft 

for  their  deliverance.-^  Tliis  notion  was  essential  in 
order  that  Jesus  might  be  the  universal  Saviour  in  the 
full  meaning  of  the  term :  thus  Saint  Paul  accepts  it 
in  his  later  writings.^  These  fictions,  however,  did  not 
find  their  way  into  the  Synoptics,  —  no  doubt  because 
that  part  of  the  canon  was  already  closed  when  they 
sprang  up.  They  remained,  as  it  were,  floating  in  the 
air,  outside  the  gospel  texts,  and  took  shape  long 
after  in  the  apocryphal  work  called  the  "  Gospel  of 
Nicodemus."^ 

But  the  special  task  of  the  Christian  conscience  was 
wrought  in  the  silence  of  Judaea  and  the  neighbouring 
region.  The  Synoptic  Gospels  grew  up,  as  it  were, 
limb  by  limb,  as  a  living  organism  completes  itself 
little  by  little,  and  reaches  its  perfect  unity  under  its 
mysterious  law  of  growth.  At  the  date  now  had  in 
view,  was  there  any  existing  written  text  of  the  acts 
and  words  of  Jesus  ?  Had  the  apostle  Matthew  —  if  it 
was  he  —  drawn  up  in  Hebrew  the  discourses  of  his 
Master?  Had  Mark  —  or  whoever  wrote  under  that 
name  —  put  in  writing  his  notes  upon  that  life  ?  *  It 
may  be  doubted.  Paul,  at  all  events,  had  no  such 
document  in  hand.  Had  he  perhaps  an  oral,  or  what 
we  may  call  mnemonic,  tradition  of  those  words  ?     One 

1  1  Pet.  iii.  19,  20,  22;  iv.  6.  Justin,  Tryph.  72  (interpolated  from 
Jeremiah);  Iren.  iii.  20:  4;  iv.  22:  1;  27:  2;  33:  1,  12;  v.  31:  1 ;  Tert. 
De  anhna,  7,  55 ;  Clem.  Alex.  Strom,  vi.  6 ;  Orig.  c.  Cels.  ii.  43 ;  Hippol. 
De  Antichristo,  26.  The  attempts  of  Protestant  critics  to  impugn  this 
ancient  Christian  myth  are  an  offence  to  true  criticism. 

2  Phil.  ii.  10;  Col.  i.  20;  Eph.  i.  10;  iv.  9.  See  also  Rom.  xiv.  9; 
Herm.  Shep.  Simil.  ix.  16;  Clem.  Alex.  Strom,  ii.  9;  vi.  6. 

*  In  Part  Second,  not  earlier  than  the  fourth  century.  Comp.  Symbol 
of  Sirmium,  in  Socr.  Hist.  Eccl.  ii.  37. 

*  Papias  (Euseb.  iii.  39).  That  the  Gospel  of  Luke  did  not  as  yet  exist 
is  sufficiently  clear  from  1  Pet.  ii.  23,  compared  with  Luke  xxiii.  34, 


72  ANTICHRIST, 

may  infer  such  a  tradition  for  his  account  of  the 
eucharist ;  ^  perhaps  for  the  crucifixion ;  possibly  a  hint 
of  the  resurrection;^  but  not  for  the  maxims  and 
parables :  as  to  the  supper,  he  most  nearly  follows  Luke. 
In  his  view  Jesus  is  an  expiatory  victim,  a  superhuman 
being,  —  one  risen  from  the  dead,  not  a  moralist.  His 
citations  of  Jesus'  words  are  vague,  and  not  such  as 
the  evangelists  put  in  his  mouth.^  The  apostolic 
epistles,  other  than  those  of  Paul,  give  no  evidence 
that  any  such  written  memorial  had  yet  appeared. 

The  inference  would  seem  to  be  that  certain  narra- 
tives—  as  of  the  Supper,  the  Crucifixion,  the  Resur- 
rection—  were  repeated  from  memory  in  words  that 
admitted  little  variation.  A  passage  like  that  regard- 
ing the  Supper,  for  example,  exhibits  a  likeness,  such 
as  that  of  the  story  of  the  crucifixion  in  the  Fourth 
Gospel,  to  that  in  the  Synoptics.  The  main  features 
of  the  Synoptic  narrative  were  probably  shaped  out 
already  —  though,  as  just  noted,  it  makes  no  mention 
of  the  legend  of  Jesus  in  the  world  below,  w^hich  must 
have  appeared  about  a.  d.  60 ;  but,  while  the  apostles 
lived,  books  that  claimed  to  fix  the  tradition,  which 
was  in  their  sole  keeping,  would  have  had  no  chance  of 
acceptance.*  And  besides,  why  write  the  life  of  Jesus  ? 
He  is  just  now  coming  back.  A  world  on  the  eve  of 
perishing  needs  no  new  books.  When  the  witnesses 
are  dead,  then  it  will  be  time  enough  to  fix  in  writing 
a  figure  which  is  fading  from  men's  memories  every 

1  1  Cor.  xi.  23-26.  2  ju^^  ^v.  3-7. 

«  See  1  Thess.  iv.  8,  9;  v.  2,  6.  Gal.  v.  14.  1  Cor.  vii.  10,  12,  25,  40; 
xiii.  2.     2  Cor.  iii.  6.     Rom.  xii.  14,  19.     Acts  xx.  35  proves  nothing. 

*  Irenaeus  (iii.  1)  says  that  Mark  did  not  write  till  after  the  death 
of  Peter. 


THE  CHURCHES  IN  JUD^A,  73 

day.  So  with  the  St.  Simonists  in  our  day:  at  the 
death  of  Enfantin  works  on  the  origin  of  the  sect  and 
its  founder's  life  began  to  appear ;  while  in  his  lifetime 
such  writings  would  not  be  allowed,  as  too  damaging 
to  his  personal  importance.  On  this  point  the  churches 
of  Judaea  and  the  vicinity  had  a  great  advantage ; 
since  the  knowledge  of  Jesus'  words  was  far  more 
widespread  and  accurate  here  than  elsewhere.  In  this 
regard  we  note  a  difference  between  the  epistles  of 
James  and  Paul.  This  little  composition  of  James  is 
pervaded  by  a  certain  evangelic  fragrance;  we  seem 
to  hear  in  it  at  times  the  very  echo  of  the  words 
of  Jesus ;  in  it  the  atmosphere  of  Galilaean  life  is  keen 
and  fresh.^ 

We  have  no  historical  account  of  missions  sent  out 
directly  from  the  church  at  Jerusalem.  Its  very 
principles  would  hardly  lead  it  to  spend  its  strength 
in  such  work.  In  general,  there  were  few  Ebionite 
or  JudaBO-Christian  missions.  The  narrow  spirit  of  the 
Ehionim  would  permit  only  envoys  "of  the  circum- 
cision." As  we  gather  from  the  picture  traced  in  the 
writings  of  the  second  century,  —  perhaps  exaggerated, 
but  at  any  rate  faithful  to  the  local  spirit,  —  the 
Judaeo-Christian  preacher  was  watched  with  a  suspi- 
cious eye ;  his  antecedents  were  looked  into ;  he  was 
forced  to  undergo  certain  tests,  with  a  six  years' 
novitiate,  as  we  see  in  the  first  words  of  the  Clemen- 
tine homilies;^  he  must  have  regular  papers,  making 
a  formal  confession  of  faith,  in  conformity  with  that 

1  See  James  i.  6,  27;  ii.  1-4,  8, 10,  13;  iv.  11,  12,  13-17;  v.  12;  and 

especially  v.  14,  15,  conforming  so  strictly  with  the  Galilsean  view  of 
healing  and  pardon ;  also  the  exaltation  of  poverty  and  hatred  of  riches. 

2  See  "  Saint  Paul,"  chap.  x. 


74  ANTICHRIST, 

of  the  apostles  at  Jerusalem.  Thus  handicapped,  a 
fruitful  apostleship  was  a  thing  impossible;  under 
such  conditions  Christianity  would  never  have  been 
preached.  Even  those  whom  James  sent  forth  seem 
to  have  been  much  more  busied  with  overthrowing 
Paul's  foundations  than  in  building  on  their  own 
account.  True,  the  churches  of  Bithynia,  Pontus,  and 
Cappadocia,  •  which  appear  just  now  beside  those  of 
Asia  and  Galatia/  were  not  the  work  of  Paul ;  but  no 
more,  it  would  seem,  were  they  the  work  of  Peter  or  of 
James :  doubtless  they  were  founded  by  that  nameless 
preaching  of  the  faithful  which  is  most  efficacious  of 
all.  It  is  my  opinion,  on  the  other  hand,  that  Bata- 
naea,  Hauran,  Decapolis,  and  generally  the  whole  region 
east  of  Jordan,  which  presently  became  the  centre  and 
citadel  of  Jewish  Christianity,  were  evangelised  by 
adepts  of  the  church  at  Jerusalem.  On  this  side,  the 
limit  of  Roman  domination  was  quickly  reached.  Now 
the  regions  of  Arabia  lent  no  ear  to  the  new  doctrine, 
and  lands  subject  to  the  Parthian  kings  (Arsacidae) 
were  scarce  open  to  movements  coming  from  the 
Roman  domain.  The  range  of  apostolic  geography  is 
very  narrow.  The  first  Christians  never  dream  of  the 
barbaric  or  the  Persian  world ;  that  of  Arabia  hardly 
has  an  existence  for  them.  The  missions  of  Thomas 
among  the  Parthians,  Andrew  among  the  Scythians, 
and  Bartholomew  into  India,  belong  to  legend.  Chris- 
tian imagination  in  the  early  time  turns  little  to  the 
East ;  the  aim  of  apostolic  pilgrimage  is  to  the  farthest 
West.  Paul,  as  we  have  seen,  looks  beyond  Italy 
toward  Spain,^  while  in  the  Orient  the  missionaries 
appear  to  regard  the  goal  as  already  reached. 

1  1  Pet.  i.  1.  2  Rom.  XV.  24,  28. 


THE  CHURCHES  IN  JUD^A.  75 

Was  the  name  of  Jesus  heard  during  the  first 
century  at  Edessa  ?  Was  there  at  this  time  near  the 
upper  Euphrates  (Osrhoene)  a  Christianity  of  Syrian 
speech?  The  fables  that  surround  the  cradle  of  that 
church  do  not  allow  us  to  speak  with  certainty.^  It 
is  likely,  however,  that  the  close  relations  of  Judaism 
in  this  quarter  —  recalling  the  stay  of  the  [Assyrian] 
royal  family  of  Adiabene  at  Jerusalem  [and  the  con- 
version of  Queen  Helena  to  Judaism  (about  A.  d.  18), 
mentioned  by  Josephus]  —  served  in  the  propagation 
of  Christianity.  Samosata  and  Commagene  early  had 
men  of  learning  who  were  members  of  the  Church  or 
at  least  friendly  to  it.^  This  region  of  the  Euphrates, 
in  any  case,  received  the  faith  from  Antioch.^ 

The   clouds   that   gathered  on  the   eastern   horizon 

1  The  regular  list  of  bishops  of  Edessa  begins  about  a.  d.  300.  (See 
Assemani,  Bihl.  Or,  i.  424  et  seq.)  Cureton  ("  Ancient  Syriac  Documents," 
pp.  23,  61,  71,  72  :  Lend.  1864)  is  full  of  anachronisms  and  contradictions. 
All  that  concerns  the  apostolate  of  Thaddaeus  (or  Adaeus,  which  is  only  a 
variation  of  that  name)  and  the  Christianity  of  King  Abgarus  (Abgar 
Uchamas)  is  apocryphal  and  fabulous.  The  false  Leboubna  of  Edessa  in 
Cureton  (ih.  6-23;  cf.  108-112)  j  the  same,  tr.  from  Armenian  (pub.  by 
Alishan,  Venice,  1868),  and  in  Langlois  (Hist,  of  Armenia,  i.  313;  cf. 
Cureton,  166).  Comp.  Moses  of  Khorene  (Hist,  of  Arm.  u.  26-36); 
Faustus  of  Byzantium,  iii.  1 ;  Geneal.  of  St.  Greg.  1  (Langlois,  vol.  ii.); 
Euseb.  i.  13;  ii.  1 ;  Assemani,  i.  318;  iii.  289,  302,  611 ;  Nicephorus,  ii. 
7,  40;  St.  Ephrem,  Carm.  nisib.  138  (ed.  Bickell) ;  Lequien,  Onens  chr.  ii. 
1101,  2.  The  acts  of  the  martyrs  Sherbil  and  Barsamia,  sufferers  under 
Trajan  (Cureton,  41-72;  cf.  Acta  Sanct.  Jan.  ii.  1026),  are  of  little  value. 
The  Syriac  Peshito  belongs  to  the  end  of  the  second  century.  Barde- 
sanes,  it  is  true  [d.  a.  d.  223],  assumes  an  established  Christianity  of 
some  duration. 

2  Letter  of  Mara,  son  of  Serapion,  in  Cureton:  Spicil.  Syr.  73,  74,  of 
date  about  a.  d.  73. 

8  The  false  Leboubna,  in  Cureton,  23;  in  Langlois,  325.  Edessa,  and 
even  Seleucia  on  the  Tigris,  at  first  acknowledged  the  ecclesiastical 
supremacy  of  Antioch :  Assemani,  ii.  396  ;  iii.  (pt.  2)  dcxx.  ;  Lequien, 
Or.  Christ,  ii.  1104,  5. 


75  ANTICHRIST, 

checked  the  advance  of  these  Christian  preachings. 
The  prudent  administration  of  Festus  could  do  nothing 
to  stay  the  disease  preying  on  the  heart  of  Judaea. 
Brigands,  zealots,  assassins,  impostors  of  every  sort, 
swarmed  everywhere.  One  deceiver,  after  twenty 
others,  offered  safety  and  deliverance  from  their  woes 
to  all  who  should  follow  him  into  the  desert.  Those 
who  went  were  slaughtered  by  Roman  soldiers ;  ^  but 
nobody  was  cured  of  trust  in  false  prophets.  Festus 
died  in  Judaea,  early  in  a.  d.  62,  and  Nero  sent  Albinus 
as  his  successor.  At  the  same  time  Herod  Agrippa  the 
second  deprived  Joseph  Cabi  of  the  pontificate,  which 
he  bestowed  upon  Hanan,  son  of  the  Hanan  (or  Annas) 
who  had  been  the  chief  agent  in  the  crucifixion  of 
Jesus.  This  was  the  fifth  of  the  sons  of  Hanan  who 
held  that  dignity.^ 

The  younger  Hanan  was  haughty,  stern,  and  bold. 
He  was  the  flower  of  Sadduceeism,  the  complete 
expression  of  that  cruel  and  inhuman  sect,  which  did 
its  best  to  make  the  exercise  of  authority  insupport- 
able and  hateful.  James,  "the  Lord's  brother,"  was 
well-known  in  Jerusalem  as  a  bitter  advocate  of  the 
poor,  a  prophet  of  antique  mould,  loud  in  invective 
against  the  rich  and  powerful.^  Hanan  resolved  that 
he  should  die.  In  the  absence  of  Agrippa,  and  before 
Albinus  had  arrived  in  Judaea,  he  summoned  the  court 

1  Jos.  Antiq.  XX.  8:  10;  War,  ii.  14:  1. 

2  Jos.  Antiq.  xx.  9:  1.  Josephus  in  his  "Jewish  War'*  (iv.  5:  2) 
speaks  with  much  praise  of  the  younger  Hanan ;  but  we  note  in  this  work 
a  tendency  to  exalt  those  who  were  slain  by  the  revolutionists  in  Jerusalem. 
The  "  Antiquities  "  are  more  trustworthy  on  this  point. 

8  James  v.  1-6.  This  paragraph  may  possibly  have  been  published  in 
Jerusalem  as  a  sort  of  prophecy:  ver.  4  (the  *' cries"  of  the  labourer) 
seems  an  allusion  to  a  fact  told  by  Josephus  in  Antiq.  xx.  8:  8;  9:  2. 


THE   CHURCHES  IN  JUDjEA,  77 

of  Sanhedrim,  and  brought  before  it  James  with  some 
other  saints.  They  were  accused  of  violating  the  Law, 
and  condemned  to  death  by  stoning.  The  authority 
of  Agrippa  was  needful  to  the  assembling  of  the  San- 
hedrim,^ and  that  of  Albinus  was  legally  essential  to 
the  sentence ;  but  the  furious  Hanan  set  himself  above 
all  rules.  James  was  stoned  near  the  Temple;  and, 
since  there  was  delay  or  difficulty  in  carrying  out  the 
sentence,  his  head  was  crushed  by  a  fuller  with  his 
beating-club.  He  was,  it  is  said,  ninety-six  years  old.^ 
The  death  of  this  holy  man  had  the  worst  effect 
throughout  the  city.  The  devout  Pharisees,  strict 
observers  of  the  Law,  were  deeply  incensed.  James 
was  universally  honoured,  as  one  of  those  men  whose 
prayers  have  greatest  weight.  It  is  said  that  a 
"  Rechabite "  (probably  an  Essene),  or,  as  some  say, 
Simeon,  son  of  Cleopas,  nephew  of  James,  cried  out  as 
he  was  stoned,  "  Hold  !  what  are  you  about  ?  Will 
you  kill  the  just  man  who  prays  for  you  ?  "  A  passage 
of  Isaiah,^  as  then  understood,  was  applied  to  him. 
"  '  Let  us  crush  the  righteous  man,'  say  they, '  because 
he  displeases  us ; '  that  is  why  the  fruit  of  their  works 
is  consumed."  Elegies  in  Hebrew  were  composed  upon 
his  death,  full  of  allusions  to  Scripture  passages  and  to 
his  name,  Ohliam:  traces  of  these  may  be  found  in 
Hegesippus.  Almost  the  whole  population  joined  in 
inviting  King  Agrippa   to   put   bounds   to  the   high- 

^  As  appears  in  the  phrase  x<0ptr  rrjs  iKtivov  yvonfirjs,  the  word  tKclvov 
seeming  to  refer  to  the  king  —  an  explanation  best  suited  to  what  we 
know  of  the  government  of  that  day. 

2  Jos.  Antiq.  xx.  9:1;  Hegesippus  in  Euseb.  ii.  23;  iv.  22.  Clem. 
Alex.  id.  ii.  1 ;  Epiphan.  Ixxviii.  14.  The  story  of  Hegesippus  is  legendary 
in  its  details. 

*  Isaiah  iii.  10. 


•j^  ANTICHRIST, 

priest's  audacity.  Albinus,  already  on  his  way  from 
Alexandria,  learned  the  crime  of  Hanan,  to  whom  he 
sent  a  threatening  letter,  afterwards  deposing  him. 
So  Hanan  held  the  office  for  only  three  months.  The 
disasters  which  presently  fell  upon  the  nation  were 
regarded  by  many  as  a  judgment  upon  that  murder.^ 
The  Christians  saw  in  the  event  a  "  sign  of  the  time," 
a  proof  that  the  final  catastrophe  was  near.^ 

A  sort  of  strange  insanity,  in  fact,  prevailed  in 
Jerusalem.  Anarchy  was  at  its  height.  The  zealots, 
though  decimated  by  executions,  were  masters  of  the 
situation.  Albinus,  no  way  a  man  like  Festus,  sought 
only  to  make  profit  by  connivance  with  the  bandits.^ 
On  every  side  were  seen  prognostics  of  some  unheard-of 
calamity.  Towards  the  end  of  the  year  a  man  named 
Jesus,  son  of  Hanan,  a  sort  of  Jeremiah  risen  from  the 
dead,  began  to  roam  through  the  streets  by  day  and 
night,  crying,  "A  voice  from  the  East !  a  voice  from 
the  West !  a  voice  from  the  four  winds  !  a  voice  against 
Jerusalem  and  the  Temple !  a  voice  against  the  bride- 
groom and  his  bride  !  a  voice  against  all  the  people  !  " 
He  was  scourged  with  whips,  but  repeated  the  same 
cry.  He  was  beaten  with  rods  till  his  bones  were  laid 
bare,  but  at  every  blow  he  repeated  with  a  woful  voice, 
"  Woe,  woe  to  Jerusalem  !  "  *  He  was  never  seen  to 
speak  with  any  one  ;  but  he  went  on  still  repeating, 
"  Woe,  woe,  to  Jerusalem ! "  without  ever  assailing 
those  who  beat  him,  or  thanking  those  who  gave  him 

^  Josephus  and  Eusebius,  as  above.  For  the  addition  made  by  Origen 
to  the  passage  in  Josephus,  see  "  Saint  Paul,"  p.  80,  note. 

2  In  Matt.  xxiv.  9;  Mark  xiii.  9;  Luke  xxi.  12,  13,  we  may  perhaps 
trace  allusions  to  the  death  of  James. 

*  Jos.  Antiq.  xx.  7;   War^  ii.  14:  1. 

*  Jos.  War^  vi.  5:3. 


THE   CHURCHES  IN  JUD^A.  79 

alms.     And  so  he  went  on  until  the  siege,  his  voice 
seeming  never  to  be  weakened. 

If  this  Jesus,  son  of  Hanan,  was  not  a  disciple  of 
Jesus,  at  least  his  prophetic  cry  was  the  true  expres- 
sion of  what  was  deepest  in  the  Christian  conscience. 
Jerusalem  had  filled  up  her  measure.  The  city  that 
killed  the  prophets  and  stoned  the  messengers  sent  to 
her,  scourging  one  and  crucifying  another,  is  henceforth 
the  Accursed  City.  About  this  time  were  composed 
those  brief  books  of  visions,  which  some  ascribed  to 
Enoch  ^  and  others  to  Jesus,  showing  a  striking  like- 
ness to  the  outcries  of  Jesus,  son  of  Hanan .^  These 
fragments  were  later  adopted  in  the  text  of  the  Syn- 
optics, and  exhibited  as  the  discourses  spoken  by  Jesus 
in  his  last  days.^  Perhaps  the  watchword  was  already 
sounded,  to  forsake  Judoea  and  flee  to  the  mountains.* 
At  least  the  Synoptics  are  stamped  deeply  with  the 
marks  of  this  anguish ;  it  abides  in  them  as  a  birth- 
mark, indelibly  imprinted.  With  the  gentle  maxims 
of  Jesus  are  mingled  the  colouring  of  a  sombre  apoca- 
lypse and  the  forecasting  of  a  troubled  and  anxious 
fancy.  But  the  calmer  temper  of  the  Christians 
shielded  them  from  that  madness  which  distracted 
others  of  their  people,  who  shared  with  them  their 
messianic  dreams.  For  them  the  Messiah  was  already 
come.  He  had  lived  in  the  wilderness  ;  he  had  as- 
cended to  heaven  after  the  lapse  of  thirty  years. 
The  impostors  or  enthusiasts  who  sought  to  draw  the 

1  Comp.  Epist.  of  Barnabas  (Gr.  text)  4,  16,  with  Matt.  xxiv.  22; 
Mark  xiii.  20.     See  "  Life  of  Jesus,"  p.  42,  note. 

*  Especially  the  "voice  against  the  bridegroom,"  compared  with  Matt. 
xxiv.  19;  Mark  xiii.  17;  Luke  xxi.  23. 

8  Matt.  xxiv.  3-31;  Mark  xiii.  3-20;  Luke  xxi.  7-28. 

*  Matt.  xxiv.  16;  Mark  xiii.  14;  Luke  xxi.  21. 


8o  ANTICHRIST, 

people  after  them  were  false  Christs  and  false  proph- 
ets.^ The  death  of  James,  and  perhaps  of  some  others,^ 
led  them,  also,  more  and  more  to  divorce  their  cause 
from  that  of  Judaism.  An  object  of  hate  to  all,  they 
found  comfort  in  the  precepts  of  Jesus.  He,  as  many 
held,  had  foretold  that  amid  these  many  trials  not  a 
hair  of  their  head  should  perish.^ 

The  situation  was  so  full  of  peril,  it  was  seen  so 
clearly  that  they  were  on  the  eve  of  a  catastrophe, 
that  no  immediate  successor  to  James  was  set  at  the 
head  of  the  church  in  Jerusalem.*  The  other  "brothers 
of  the  Lord  "  —  Judas,  Simon,  and  Cleopas  —  con- 
tinued to  be  of  highest  authority  in  the  community. 
After  the  war,  as  we  shall  see,  they  served  as  a  rally- 
ing-point  to  all  the  faithful  in  Judaea.^  Jerusalem  had 
now  but  eight  years  to  survive ;  and,  long  even  before 
the  fatal  hour,  the  volcanic  outburst  drove  far  away 
the  little  group  of  pious  Jews  that  had  become  bound 
together  in  the  memory  of  Jesus. 

1  Compare  Jos.  Anliq.  xx.  8:  6,  10,  with  Matt,  xxivo  5,  11,  23,  26; 
Mark  xiii.  6,  21,  22;  Luke  xxi.  8. 

2  "  Certain  others,'*  says  Josephus,  Antiq.  xx.  9:  1.  But  it  is  not  sure 
that  these  "  others  "  were  Christians. 

8  Luke  xxi.  18,  19.  *  Euseb.  iii.  11. 

^  Euseb.  iii.  11 ;  iv.  5,  20,  22  (according  to  Hegesippus).  Constit. 
npostol.  vii.  46. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

LATEST   ACTS   OF   PAUL.  —  A.  D.   62,  63. 

Meanwhile  Paul  had  to  undergo  in  prison  the  delays 
of  an  administration  thrown  out  of  gear  by  the  sover- 
eign's extravagances  and  his  infamous  surroundings. 
He  had  with  him  Timothy,  Luke,  Aristarchus,  and,  by 
some  accounts,  Titus,  while  Tychicus  had  lately  re- 
joined him.  A  certain  Jesus  (a  Jew  surnamed  Justus),^ 
one  Demetrius  or  Demas  (an  uncircumcised  proselyte, 
apparently  from  Thessalonica),^  and  Crescens,  of  whom 
we  know  little,  shared  his  captivity  and  his  work.^ 
Mark  —  who,  by  my  theory,  had  come  to  Rome  with 
Peter  —  appears  to  have  made  friends  again  with  the 
one  whose  early  apostolic  work  he  had  shared,  and 
from  whom  he  had  parted  in  sharp  contention,*  and 
served  him,  probably,  in  his  communications  with 
Peter.^  At  any  rate,  Paul  was  just  now  on  ill  terms 
with  the  Christians  "of  the  circumcision,"  judging 
them  to  have  little  friendliness  toward  him ;  and 
declared^  that  he  had  no  good  fellow-workers  among 
them. 

1  For  this  name  as  used  among  the  Jews  compare  Corp.  inscr.  Grcec. 
No.  9922 ;  Bereshith  rabba,  §  6. 

2  Col.  iv.  11,  comparing  ver.  14. 

8  Col.  i.  1 ;  iv.  7, 10, 11, 14.    Philem.  1,  24.    Eph.  vi.  21.    2  Tim.  (apocr.) 
iv.  9-12. 

*  Acts  XX.  89. 

«  Col.  iv.  10;  rhilem.  24;  2  Tim.  iv.  11;  1  Pet.  v.  13. 

«  Col.  iv.  11. 

6 


82  ANTICHRIST, 

Among  these  new  circumstances,  in  the  imperial 
capital  where  all  opinions  met  and  mingled,  great 
changes  were  now  wrought  in  the  thought  of  Paul,  — 
changes  which  make  his  writings  of  this  period  widely 
different  from  those  composed  during  his  second  and 
third  missions.  Christian  doctrine  was  fast  unfolding 
inwardly.  In  a  few  months  of  these  fruitful  years, 
theology  made  more  advance  than  afterward  in  centu- 
ries. The  new  doctrine  was  finding  its  balance,  and, 
as  it  were,  making  itself  scaffoldings  and  props  on 
every  side  for  its  firmer  support.  One  might  compare 
it  to  an  organism  at  a  critical  stage  of  evolution,  which 
puts  forth  a  limb,  transforms  an  organ,  trims  away  a 
superfluity,  so  as  to  attain  an  harmonious  life ;  that  is, 
a  condition  in  which  the  living  creature  may  freely  put 
forth  reflex  action,  giving  it  consistence  and  support. 

The  flame  of  a  consuming  activity  had  hitherto  left 
Paul  no  leisure  to  reflect  on  the  lapse  of  time,  or  to  dis- 
cover that  Jesus  tarried  long  in  his  appearing ;  but  these 
weary  months  of  captivity  turned  his  thoughts  in  upon 
themselves.  He  was  now,  too,  growing  old,  —  "  such  a 
one  as  Paul  the  aged  ;  "  ^  a  certain  sadness  of  advancing 
years  succeeded  to  the  heat  of  his  passionate  youth. 
Reflection  pushed  its  way  into  consciousness,  forcing 
him  to  round  out  his  thought  and  reduce  it  to  a  system. 
From  a  man  of  action,  he  became  a  mystic,  a  theolo- 
gian, a  speculative  thinker.  The  eagerness  of  absolute 
conviction,  unable  to  take  a  single  step  backward, 
could  not  prevent  his  wondering,  now  and  then,  why 
the  sky  did  not  open  sooner,  or  the  last  trump  already 
sound.  His  faith  was  not  shaken,  but  it  craved  other 
grounds  of  support.     His  idea  of  the  Christ  changed 

1  Philem.  9. 


LATEST  ACTS  OF  PAUL,  83 

accordingly.  His  inward  vision  is  not  so  much  the 
Son  of  Man  appearing  in  the  clouds,  holding  judgment 
at  the  general  resurrection ;  but  of  a  Christ  exalted  in 
his  own  divinity,  in  substance  and  act  one  with  God. 
To  him  the  resurrection  is  no  longer  in  the  future ;  it 
has  already  come  to  pass.^  If  a.  man  changes  once,  he 
keeps  on  changing ;  one  may  be  at  the  same  time  the 
most  impassioned  and  the  most  advancing  of  men. 
Certain  it  is  that  the  grand  images  of  the  final  reve- 
lation and  the  resurrection  —  once  so  familiar  to  Paul, 
found  in  some  shape  on  every  page  of  his  letters  of 
the  second  and  third  missions,  and  even  in  that  to 
the  Philippians^  —  are  far  less  prominent  in  the  later 
epistles  of  his  captivity.^  Here  their  place  is  taken 
by  a  theory  of  the  Christ,  conceived  as  a  sort  of  divine 
person,  much  like  the  Logos-theory,  which  later  took 
its  final  form  in  the  writings  ascribed  to  John. 

A  like  change  is  observable  in  the  style.  The 
epistles  of  his  captivity  have  more  ample  flow,  but 
lose  something  of  nerve.  The  thought  is  less  vigor- 
ously handled.  The  diction  greatly  differs  from  that 
of  the  earlier  period.  The  favourite  expressions  of  the 
Johannine  School  —  light,  darkness,  life,  love,  and  the 
like  —  become  dominant.*  We  already  find  traces  of 
the  eclectic  philosophy  of  the  Gnostics.  Justification 
by  Jesus  is  no  longer  the  living  question ;  the  dispute 
of  faith  and  works  seems  reconciled  in  the  unity  of 
Christian  life,  which  combines  both  grace  and  knowl- 
edge.^    Christ,  now  the  central  being  of  the  universe, 

1  Col.  ii.  12;  iii.  1 ;  but  see  2  Tim.  ii.  18. 

2  Phil.  i.  6;  ii.  16;  iii.  20,  21;  iv.  5. 
8  Col.  iii.  4. 

*  Col.  i.  12,  13  ;  iii.  4.     Eph.  v.  8,  11,  13.     Comp.  Phil.  ii.  16. 

8  Col.  i.  10;  iii.  9,  10;  Eph.  ii.  8-10.     Here  we  have  the  phrase,  "not 


84  ANTICHRIST, 

harmonises  in  his  deified  personality  the  two  rival 
Christologies.  The  genuineness  of  these  writings  has 
been  contested,  not  without  grounds ;  still,  the  argu- 
ment in  its  favour  is  so  strong,^  that  I  prefer  to  at- 
tribute the  variance  of  style  and  thought  to  a  natural 
advance  in  Paul's  manner.  His  earlier  and  doubtless 
genuine  writings  have  in  them  the  germ  of  this  later 
style.  In  certain  relations  the  terms  "Christ"  and 
"  God "  are  almost  interchangeable  :  Christ  exercises 
the  offices  of  divinity ;  like  God,  his  name  is  invoked 
in  prayer ;  he  is  the  essential  mediator  of  approach  to 
God.  In  the  warmth  of  the  disciples'  attachment  to 
Jesus  any  theory  [of  divinity] ,  held  in  any  part  of  the 
Jewish  world,  might  be  referred  to  him.  Suppose  a 
man  to  appear  in  our  day  who  answered  to  all  the 
diverse  demands  of  our  democracy:  to  one,  his  parti- 
sans would  say,  "You  are  for  organised  labour,  and 
he  is  organised  labour ; "  to  another,  "  You  are  for 
moral  independence,  and  he  is  moral  independence ;  " 
to  a  third,  "You  are  for  co-operation,  and  he  is  co- 
operation ; ''  to  a  fourth,  "  You  are  for  solidarity,  and 
he  is  solidarity." 

The  new  theory  of  Paul,  as  found  in  Colossians  and 
Ephesians,  may  be  summed  up  somewhat  thus :  — 

This  world  is  the  kingdom  of  darkness,  that  is,  of 
Satan  and  his  infernal  hierarchy,  who  fill  the  spaces  of 
the  air.  The  realm  of  saints,  on  the  other  hand,  is  the 
kingdom  of  light.  The  saints  are  what  they  are,  not 
by  their  own  merit  (for  before  Christ,  all  were  enemies 
of  God),  but  by  the  merits  of  Christ,  the  Son  of  God's 

of  works,"  no  longer  "works  of  the  law"  (as  in  Gal.  ii.  16),  which  would 
be  hardly  intelligible  to  a  Greek. 

1  See  Introduction  to  "  Saint  Paul,"  p.  6. 


LATEST  ACTS  OF  PAUL.  Zs 

love,  which  He  freely  transfers  to  them.  The  blood  of 
his  Son,  shed  upon  the  cross,  blots  out  their  sin,  recon- 
ciles every  creature  with  God,  making  peace  reign  in 
heaven  and  on  earth.  The  Son  is  the  visible  image  of 
the  Invisible,  the  first-born  of  the  creation ;  all  was 
created  in  him,  through  him,  and  for  him,  —  things 
in  heaven  and  on  earth,  visible  and  invisible,  thrones, 
powers,  and  dominions.^  He  was  before  all  things, 
and  all  exist  in  him.  He  and  the  Church  make  one 
body,  of  which  he  is  the  head.  As  he  has  always 
held  the  first  rank  in  all  things,  so  he  holds  it  in  the 
resurrection,  which  goes  before  the  general  resurrection. 
The  fulness  of  divinity  dwells  bodily  in  him.  Thus, 
he  is  a  true  divinity  to  man,  a  sort  of  first  agent  of 
the  creation,  intermediate  between  God  and  man,  —  as 
Philo  calls  the  Word  "a  god  to  us  the  imperfect.'*^ 
Whatever  monotheism  says  of  the  relations  of  man  to 
God  may  be  said,  in  Paul's  theology,  of  the  relations  of 
man  to  Jesus.^  Veneration  for  him,  which  in  James 
does  not  go  beyond  dulia  or  hyperdulia,"^  extends  with 
Paul  to  a  true  latria,  such  as  no  Jew  had  ever  paid  to  a 
man  of  woman  born.^ 

This  mystery,  prepared  by  God  from  everlasting,  is 
now  in  the  fulness  of  time  revealed  to  his  saints  of  the 
last  days.  The  time  is  come  when  every  one  must  in 
his  own  degree  fulfil  the  work  of  Christ :  his  work  is 

1  Orders  of  the  angels ;  see  Rom.  viii.  38;  1  Cor.  xv.  24  •,  1  Pet.  iii.  22; 
Testam.  of  the  Patriarchs:  Levi,  3  et  seq. 

2  Leg.  alleg.  iii.  73. 

'  The  uncertainty  of  the  text  in  Col.  ii.  2  prevents  any  argument 
from  it. 

*  James  i.  1. 

^  By  the  Catholic  distinction,  dulia  signifies  the  worship  paid  to  saints, 
hyperdulia  that  to  the  Virgin,  lalria  that  to  God  alone.  —  Ed. 


86  ANTICHRIST. 

fulfilled  by  suffering,  and  thus  suffering  is  a  privilege 
in  which  we  should  rejoice  and  boast.  The  Christian, 
as  a  fellow-worker  with  Jesus,  is  like  him  filled  with 
the  fulness  (nXijpcofjLa)  of  God.^  Jesus  in  his  resurrec- 
tion has  bestowed  his  own  life  upon  all.  The  wall 
of  separation,  which  the  Law  set  up  between  God's 
people  and  the  gentiles,. Jesus  has  taken  away;  from 
the  two  reconciled  portions  of  mankind  he  has  made  a 
new  humanity ;  all  the  old  hatreds  he  has  slain  on  the 
cross.  The  letter  of  the  Law  was  as  the  note  of  a  debt 
which  mankind  could  not  pay,  but  Jesus  has  cancelled 
it  by  nailing  it  to  the  cross.  Thus  the  world  made  by 
him  is  a  world  wholly  new ;  he  is  the  corner-stone  of 
the  temple  built  by  God  for  his  own  worship.  The 
Christian  is  dead  to  the  world,  buried  with  Jesus  in 
the  tomb ;  his  "  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God."  Until 
Christ  shall  appear  and  unite  him  in  his  own  glory,  he 
"  mortifies  his  body,"  by  the  extinction  of  his  natural 
desires,  by  taking  in  everything  the  course  opposite  to 
nature,  stripping  away  '^  the  old  man  "  and  putting  on 
"  the  new  man,"  made  new  in  the  image  of  his  Maker. 
In  this  view  there  is  no  longer  Greek  or  Jew,  circum- 
cised or  uncircumcised,  barbarian,  Scythian,  slave,  or 
freeman  ;  Christ  is  all,  and  in  all.  The  saints  are  those 
to  whom  by  free  gift  God  has  made  application  of  the 
merits  of  Christ,  and  whom  he  thus  predestined  to  the 
divine  adoption  before  the  world  was.  The  Church  is 
one,  as  God  himself  is  one.  Its  work  is  the  building-up 
of  the  body  of  Christ ;  the  final  purpose  of  all  things  is 
the  realising  of  the  perfect  Man,  the  complete  union  of 
Christ  with  all  his  members,  —  a  condition  in  which  he 
will  be  in  truth  the  head  of  a  humanity  made  anew 
*  Col.  ii.  10-,  Eph.  iii.  19-,  John  i.  16. 


LATEST  ACTS  OF  PAUL.  Sf 

after  his  likeness,  receiving  from  him  motion  and  life 
by  a  series  of  organs  joined  together  in  due  subordi- 
nation. The  powers  of  darkness  in  the  air  about  us 
struggle  to  prevent  this  fulfilment.  There  will  be  a 
terrible  conflict  between  them  and  the  saints,  and  a 
season  of  affliction ;  but,  armed  with  the  gifts  of  Christ, 
the  saints  will  triumph. 

Doctrines  such  as  these  were  not  wholly  original. 
They  were,  in  part,  those  of  the  Jewish  Egyptian  school, 
notably  those  of  Philo.  Christ,  thus  become  a  divine 
"hypostasis,"  is  the  Logos  of  the  Jewish  Alexandrian 
philosophy,  the  mem'ra  of  the  Chaldaic  paraphrases, 
archetype  of  all  things,  by  whom  all  things  were 
created.^  The  powers  of  the  air,  to  which  the  empire 
of  the  world  has  been  given,  these  strange  hierarchies 
celestial  and  infernal,^  are  those  of  the  Jewish  cabbala 
and  the  Gnostics.  The  mysterious  pleroma,  the  final 
purpose  of  Christ's  work,  is  much  like  the  divine 
pleroma  placed  by  the  Gnostics  at  the  summit  of  the 
universal  scale.  The  gnostic  and  cabbalist  theosophy, 
which  we  may  regard  as  the  mythology  of  monotheism, 
and  which  we  seem  to  find  hinted  in  Simon  of  Gitton,^ 
appears  in  the  first  century  with  all  its  essential  fea- 

1  Philo,  De  prof.  2,  19,  20,  26;  Vita  Mosis,  ii.  42;  De  mundi  opif. 
4-8 ;  De  conf.  ling.  14,  19,  28 ;  De  migr.  Ahr.  1,  2  ;  De  somniis,  i.  13,  37,  41 ; 
ii.  37 ;  De  monarchia^  ii.  5 ;  Quod  Detts  immut.  6,  36 ;  De  agr.  Noe,  2 ;  De 
plant.  Noe,  2,  4;  Legis  alleg.  i.  18;  iii.  34,  59-61;  De  cher.  11,  35; 
De  mundo,  2,  3;  Quis  rer.  div.  hceres,  26,  38,  42,  44,  48;  De  post.  Caini, 
35  ;  fragm.  in  Euseb.  Prcspar.  evang.  vii.  13 ;  John  of  Damascus  (Mangey, 
ii.  655). 

2  Philo,  De  somn.  i.  22;  Testament  of  the  twelve  patriarchs:  Levi^  3; 
Benj.  3;  Mishna,  Aboth,  v.  6;  Babyl.  Talm.,  Beracoth,  Qa;  Tanhouma, 
§  Mishpatim:  lalkout  on  Job,  §  913;  Plutarch,  Quce.'it.  Rom.  14;  lambli- 
chus,  De  myst.  jEgijpt.^  ii.  3;  Test,  of  Solomon,  in  Fabricius,  Cod.  pseud. 
V.  r.,  i.  1047;  1  Pet.  iii.  22;  Ignat.  Ad  Trallianos,  4,  5. 

*  Acts  viii.  10. 


88  ANTICHRIST. 

tures.  To  throw  over  to  the  second  century,  on  system, 
all  the  documents  in  which  traces  are  found  of  such  a 
theory,  is  very  rash.  The  same  thing,  in  germ,  was  in 
Philo  and  in  primitive  Christianity.  The  theosophic 
conception  of  Christ  came  necessarily  from  the  messi- 
anic conception  of  the  Son  of  Man,  when  it  once  became 
evident,  after  long  waiting,  that  the  Son  of  Man  did 
not  return.  In  the  most  incontestably  genuine  of 
Paul's  epistles  there  are  certain  features  which  lack 
little  of  being  as  advanced  as  those  in  the  writings  of 
his  captivity.  Thus,  Satan  is  called  "  the  god  of  this 
world.'*  ^  Hebrews,  written  before  A.  d.  70,  shows  the 
same  tendency  to  place  Jesus  in  the  realm  of  abstract 
speculation.^  All  this  will  appear  very  clearly  when 
we  come  to  speak  of  the  Johannine  writings.  With 
Paul,  who  had  not  himself  known  Jesus,  this  meta- 
morphosis of  the  idea  of  Christ  was  in  a  way  inevitable. 
While  the  school  which  held  the  living  tradition  of 
the  Master  created  the  Jesus  of  the  Synoptics,  the 
enthusiast,  who  had  never  seen  but  in  his  dreams  the 
Founder  of  his  faith,  transfigured  him  more  and  more 
into  a  super-human  being,  a  sort  of  metaphysical  First 
Principle,  that  may  never  have  appeared  in  life. 

This  transfiguration,  moreover,  did  not  come  to  pass 
in  the  thought  of  Paul  alone.  The  churches  he  had 
founded  advanced  in  the  same  direction  with  him. 
Especially  those  of  Asia  Minor  were  carried  by  a  certain 
force  of  interior  growth  to  the  most  exaggerated  views 
upon  the  divinity  of  Jesus.  This  we  may  easily  under- 
stand. For  the  fraction  of  Christendom  which  grew 
up  from  the  familiar  conversations  by  the  sea  of  Gali- 
lee, Jesus  would  always  remain  the  beloved  Son  of  God 

1  2  Cor.  iv.  4:  cf.  John  xii.  31.  «  Heb.  i.  5-8. 


LATEST  ACTS  OF  PAUL.  89 

whom  they  had  seen  walking  among  men  with  the 
charm  of  his  presence  and  his  kindly  smile ;  but  when 
his  name  was  heard  among  the  people  of  far-away 
Phrygia,  where  the  speaker  himself  professed  never  to 
have  seen  him,  and  to  have  known  nothing  of  his  life 
on  earth/  what  could  those  good  and  simple-minded 
hearers  think  of  him  who  was  thus  proclaimed  ?  What 
image  could  they  form  of  him  ?  Was  it  as  a  wise  man, 
—  a  teacher,  of  attractive  personality  ?  It  was  not  so 
that  Paul  set  forth  his  character.  He  was,  or  seemed 
to  be,  quite  ignorant  of  the  historic  Jesus.  Was  it  as 
the  Messiah,  the  Son  of  Man,  about  to  appear  in  the 
clouds  in  the  "  great  and  dreadful  day  of  the  Lord  ?  "  ^ 
These  images  were  strange  to  the  gentiles,  and  implied 
knowledge  of  the  Jewish  scriptures.  Evidently  the 
figure  that  would  oftenest  present  itself  to  these  pious 
provincials  was  that  of  an  incarnation,  —  a  god  in 
human  form  walking  on  the  earth,  —  just  as  Paul 
himself  was  taken  to  be  at  Lystra.^  This  notion  was 
very  familiar  in  Asia  Minor ;  not  long  after  this, 
Apollonius  of  Tyana  made  profitable  use  of  it.  To 
reconcile  such  a  view  with  the  doctrine  of  one  God, 
only  one  way  lay  open :  to  conceive  Jesus  as  a  divine 
hypostasis  clothed  in  flesh,  a  sort  of  double  of  the  one 
God,  taking  human  form  for  the  fulfilment  of  a  divine 
plan.  We  must  bear  in  mind  that  we  are  no  longer 
in  Syria.  Christianity  has  passed  from  Semitic  soil  to 
the  charge  of  races  intoxicated  with  imagination  and 
mythology.  The  prophet  Mahomet,  whose  legend  is  so 
purely  human  among  the  Arabs,  becomes  to  the  Shiites 
of  Persia  and  India  a  completely  supernatural  being,  a 
sort  of  Vishnu  or  Buddha. 

A  2  Cor.  V.  16.  2  Mai.  iv.  5.  «  Acts  xiv.  12. 


90  ANTICHRIST. 

Certain  relations  of  tlie  apostle  at  this  time  witli  the 
churches  of  Asia  Minor  gave  him  the  opportunity  to 
set  forth  the  new  form  which  his  thought  had  taken. 
The  pious  Epaphroditus  (or  Epaphras),  teacher  and 
founder  of  the  church  at  Colossae,  and  head  of  the 
churches  on  the  borders  of  the  Lycus,  came  to  him 
bearing  a  missive  from  them.^  Paul  had  never  been  in 
this  valley,  but  his  authority  there  stood  high.^  He 
was  regarded  as  the  apostle  of  that  region,  and  every 
one  there  felt  bound  to  put  faith  in  him.^  Learning  of 
his  captivity,  the  churches  of  Colossae,  Laodicea  on  the 
Lycus,  and  Hierapolis  deputed  Epaphras  to  visit  him  in 
prison,*  comfort  him,  assure  him  of  the  attachment  of 
the  faithful,  and  probably  offer  him  a  gift  in  money, 
of  which  he  might  be  in  need.!  His  report  of  the  zeal 
of  these  new  converts  gave  Paul  great  joy  ;^  their  faith, 
love,  and  hospitality  were  admirable ;  but  in  these 
Phrygian  churches  Christianity  was  taking  a  strange 
turn.  Away  from  contact  with  the  chief  apostles, 
withdrawn  from  all  Jewish  influence,  and  mostly  made 
up  of  pagan  converts,  they  inclined  to  mingle  their 
Christian  faith  with  Greek  philosophy  and  local  super- 
stitions.'^ In  the  quiet  little  town  of  Colossae,  amid  the 
noise  of  its  cascades  and  foaming  eddies,  in  front  of 
Hierapolis  and  its  dazzling  mountain,^  the  belief  in 
Christ's  full  divinity  grew  from  day  to  day.     Phrygia, 

1  Col.  i.  7,  8;  ii.  1;  iv.  12-16. 

2  lUd.  ii.  1,  5;  Eph.  iii.  2;  iv.  21. 

8  Philem.  19.  -» lUd.  23. 

5  Col.  i.  7,  with  the  reading  xmkp  vn&p. 
«  Col.  i.  4,  9 ;  Eph.  i.  15. 

7  Col.  ii.  4,  8.     See  Eph.  ii.  19-22;  iii.  1-7;  iv.  17,  22.     This  epistle 
is  probably  addressed  to  the  churches  of  the  Lycus  valley. 
^  See  "  Saint  Paul,"  chap.  xiii. 


LATEST  ACTS  OF  PAUL.  91 

as  we  remember,  was  a  country  of  original  religious 
genius.  Its  mysteries  had,  or  claimed  to  have,  a  lofty 
symbolic  meaning.  Some  of  the  rites  there  practised 
had  a  likeness  to  those  of  the  new  faith.^  For  Chris- 
tians with  no  religious  tradition  of  their  own,  who  had 
gone  through  no  such  initiation  into  monotheism  as 
the  Jews,  there  must  be  strong  inducement  to  connect 
the  new  dogma  with  the  old  symbol  which  came  to 
them  here  as  a  heritage  from  very  ancient  time.  They 
had  been  devout  pagans  before  adopting  the  Syrian 
opinions ;  and  in  adopting  them  would  probably  not 
think  they  were  breaking  formally  with  their  past. 
And  then,  what  man  really  religious  ever  wholly  re- 
nounces the  traditional  teaching  in  whose  shelter  he 
has  first  felt  the  presence  of  the  infinite,  or  does  not 
seek  some  reconciliation,  hopeless  as  it  may  be,  between 
his  old  faith  and  that  to  which  the  advance  of  his 
thought  has  brought  him  ? 

In  the  second  century  the  demand  for  compromise 
came  to  be  extremely  urgent,  and  brought  about  a 
fully  developed  Gnosticism.  Like  tendencies  at  the 
end  of  the  first  century,  as  we  shall  see,  filled  the 
church  at  Ephesus  with  restless  agitation.  Cerinthus 
and  the  writer  of  the  Fourth  Gospel  set  out  from  the 
same  postulate,  —  that  the  soul  of  Jesus  was  a  celestial 
being  distinct  from  his  earthly  manifestation.'^  About 
A.  D.  60,  Colossse  was  touched  with  the  same  disturb- 
ance.    A  theosophy  compounded  of  native  beliefs,^  an 

1  Garrucci,  Tre  sepolcri  (Naples,  1852),  and  Les  mysteres  du  syncretisme 
phrygien,  in  the  Mel.  d^Arch.  of  Cahier  and  Martin,  iv.  1  et  seg. 

2  Iren.  Adv.  hcer.  i.  26:  1. 

*  See  canons  35,  36  of  the  Council  of  Laodicea;  Theodoret  on  Col. 
ii.  17,  18. 


92  ANTICHRIST, 

Ebionitisli  Judaism/  philosophic  notions,^  and  points 
taken  from  the  doctrine  newly  preached,  was  ably  set 
forth.^  A  worship  of  uncreated  iEons,  a  highly  devel- 
oped scheme  of  angels  and  daemons,  —  in  a  word, 
Gnosticism  with  its  arbitrary  practices  and  its  mate- 
rialised abstractions,  —  began  to  prevail ;  *  and,  by  its 
deceitful  seductions,  undermined  the  Christian  faith 
in  its  most  vital  and  essential  parts.  Mingled  with 
this  were  unnatural  abstinences,  morbid  self-denials,  a 
show  of  austerity  refusing  to  the  body  its  rights,^  —  in 
a  word,  all  those  aberrations  of  the  moral  sense  which 
in  the  second  century  produced  the  Phrygian  heresies 
(Montanist,  Pepuzian,  Cataphrygian)  which  allied  them- 
selves with  the  various  forms  of  mystical  frenzy  that 
still  survive  in  the  dervishes  of  our  day.  Thus  every 
day  appeared  in  sharp  contrast  the  difference  between 
Christians  of  pagan  and  those  of  Jewish  antecedents. 
Christian  mythology  and  metaphysics  sprang  up  in 
the  churches  of  Paul's  founding.  Born  of  polytheistic 
ancestry,  converts  from  paganism  found  the  idea  of  a 
god  becoming  man  very  simple  and  easy ;  while  to  the 
Jews  the  notion  of  incarnate  deity  was  something 
blasphemous  and  abhorrent. 

Paul  wished  to  keep  Epaphras,  whose  service  might 
be  of  use  to  him,^  and  decided  to  reply  to  the  Colossians 
by  sending  Tychicus  of  Ephesus,  charging  him  with 
messages  to  the  churches  in  Asia.*^  The  most  conven- 
ient route  for  him  to  follow  was  to  land  at  Ephesus  or 

1  Col.  ii.  11, 12,  16-23. 

2  lUd.  8.  »  nid.  4,  8. 

*  Col.  i.  16;  ii.  10,  15,  18.     Eph.  i.  21;   vi.  20.     Comp.  1  Tim.  i.  4; 
vi.  20.     Epiphan.  xxi.  2;  Tert.  Prcescr.  33;  Iren.  i.  31:  2. 
6  Col.  ii.  18,  22,  23. 
'  Ibid.  7,  8;  Eph.  vi.  21,  22;  2  Tim.  iv.  12. 


LATEST  ACTS  OF  PAUL.  93 

Miletus,  and  proceed  by  the  valleys  of  the  Maeander 
and  the  Lycus.  Thus  he  might  visit  the  several 
Christian  communities,  give  them  news  of  Paul,  carry 
personal  messages  as  to  his  relations  with  the  authori- 
ties, which  it  might  be  imprudent  to  put  in  writing,  — 
a  precaution  which  may  be  noted  in  several  of  the 
epistles  and  elsewhere,^  —  and  deliver  to  each  the 
letters  specially  addressed  to  them.^  Those  which 
were  closest  together  were  bidden  to  share  their  letters, 
reading  them  by  turns  in  their  assemblies.^  Tychicus 
might,  besides,  take  with  him  a  sort  of  Encyclical, 
modelled  upon  Colossians,  and  meant  for  those  to 
whom  he  had  no  special  message  to  deliver.  The 
preparation  of  this  circular  letter  seems  to  have  been 
left  to  some  disciple  or  amanuensis,  acting  under  Paul's 
instructions,  or  from  a  copy  by  his  hand.*  The  Epistle 
to  the  Romans  seems  also  to  have  had  this  character, 
as  a  circular  letter.*^ 

The  letter  addressed  under  these  conditions  to  the 
Colossians  has  come  down  to  us.  The  doubts  as  to  its 
genuineness  I  have  considered  in  a  former  volume.  It 
was  dictated  to  Timothy,^  and  signed  by  Paul,  with 
the  postscript,  "  Remember  my  bonds."  "^  The  circular 
letter,  unaddressed,  which  Tychicus  was  to  deliver  on 
the   way,   seems   to   be   the    same   that   we    have    in 

1  Cf.  1  John  12  ;  2  John  13. 

2  Col.  iv.  13,  16.  Laodicea  and  Hierapolis  are  so  near  together  that 
a  single  letter  may  have  served  them  both  (see  iv.  13).  If  Laodicea  alone 
is  named  (as  in  iv.  16),  it  is  because  that  is  rather  nearer  to  Colossae. 

8  Col.  iv.  16. 

*  It  is  noticeable  that  Ephesians  does  not  contain  at  its  close  (vi.  21) 
the  name  of  Timothy.  It  differs,  further,  in  style  from  Paul's  ordinary 
writing,  and  even  from  the  special  style  of  Colossians. 

^  See  "  Saint  Paul,"  Introduction. 

•  Col.  i.  1.  7  ma.  iv.  13. 


94  ANTICHRIST, 

"Ephesians.'*  Certainly,  it  was  not  written  for  the 
church  at  Ephesus,  —  since  it  is  addressed  only  to  con- 
verted pagans,^  —  a  church  that  Paul  had  never  seen,^ 
to  which  he  had  nothing  special  to  say.  The  ancient 
copies  gave  in  the  address  no  name  of  the  church  it 
was  meant  for ;  ^  the  final  words  *  are  indeterminate ; 
the  Vatican  and  Sinaitic  manuscripts  have  a  like  pecu- 
liarity, the  words,  "inEphesus"^  being  written  by  a 
later  hand,  while  in  that  of  Vienna  (67)  these  words 
are  erased.  It  has  been  supposed  to  be  really  that 
addressed  to  the  Laodicean s  at  the  same  time  with 
Colossians.^  I  have  given  elsewhere  '^  the  reasons  which 
lead  me,  against  this  view,  rather  to  regard  it  as  the 
circular  letter  above  described.  Tychicus,  as  he  passed 
by  his  native  city,  Ephesus,  may  have  shown  a  copy  to 
the  elders,  and  they  may  have  kept  it  as  a  precious 
document  for  instruction ;  nay,  it  may  have  been  this 
very  copy  that  served  when  the  collection  of  Paul's 
epistles  was  made  up,  whence  came  the  title  it  is 
known  by  at  this  day.  So  "  Romans  "  is  known  to  us 
by  the  name  of  the  most  important  of  the  churches  that 
had  received  it.  What  we  do  know,  is  that  Ephesians 
is  an  imitation,  or  paraphrase,  of  Colossians,  with  addi- 
tions taken  from  other,  and  perhaps  some  lost,  letters 
of  Paul. 

Ephesians,   along  with  Colossians,  makes   the   best 
exposition   of   Paul's  views   toward   the   close   of   his 

1  Eph.  ii.  11,  19;  iii.  1;  iv.  17,  22. 

2  Ibid.  i.  15;  iii.  2;  iv.  21. 

®  Basil,  Contra  Eunom.  ii.  19;  Jerome  on  Eph.  i.  1. 
*  Eph.  vi.  23,  24.  6  Thid.  i.  1. 

«  Ibid.  iv.  16.     This  was  the  opinion  of  Marcion  :  TertuU.  Adv.  Marc. 
V.  11 ;  Epiph.  xlii.  9,  11 ;  cf.  Canon  of  Muratori,  11.  62,  63. 
'  See  Introduction  to  "  Saint  Paul." 


LATEST  ACTS  OF  PAUL.  95 

career.  These  two  have  for  the  last  period  of  his  life 
the  same  value  that  Romans  has  for  the  great  era  of 
his  apostleship.  The  thought  of  the  founder  of  Chris- 
tian theology  has  here  arrived  at  its  clearest  expression. 
We  recognise  in  them  that  final  task  of  spiritualising 
to  which  great  minds  submit  their  thought  just  before 
their  end,  beyond  which  nothing  lies  but  death. 

Surely  Paul  was  right  in  contending  against  that 
perilous  disease  Gnosticism,  which  was  before  long 
seriously  to  menace  the  human  reason.  Against  this 
chimerical  "  worshipping  of  angels  "  ^  he  sets  his  Christ, 
above  all  that  is  not  God  himself.^  We  are  still  in- 
debted to  him  for  the  last  attack  he  delivered  against 
the  circumcision,  the  vain  practices,  and  the  prejudices 
of  the  Jews.^  The  moral  he  draws  from  his  tran- 
scendent conception  of  the  Christ  is  in  many  ways 
deserving  of  admiration.  But  —  good  heavens!  how 
he  goes  beyond  all  bounds  !  How  this  audacious  scorn 
of  reason,  this  brilliant  praise  of  madness,  this  storm  of 
paradox  —  how  it  leads  the  way  to  the  defeat  of  that 
perfect  reason  which  shuns  extremes !  The  "old  man," 
so  roughly  attacked  by  Paul,  will  strike  back ;  he  will 
assert  himself  as  not  deserving  such  anathema.  All 
that  Past,  stricken  by  an  unjust  sentence,  will  again  in 
the  "Renaissance*'  become  a  principle  of  new  life  for 
the  world,  starved  by  Christianity  to  the  last  degree  of 
inanition.  In  this  sense  Paul  will  prove  to  have  been 
one  of  the  most  dangerous  foes  of  civilisation.  His 
half-thoughts  will  have  been  so  many  defeats  of  the 
human   spirit.     When   that    spirit    shall   triumph,  he 

1  Col.  ii.  18. 

2  lUd.  i.  16;  ii.  10,  15  ;  Eph.  i.  21;  vi.  12. 
«  Col.  ii.  11,  12,  16,  23;  Eph.  ii.,  iii. 


96  ANTICHRIST. 

will  pass  away.      The  triumph  of  Jesus  will  be  the 
extinction  of  Paul. 

"  Colossians  "  ends  with  conveying  the  kind  words 
and  wishes  of  their  saintly  and  devoted  catechist, 
Epaphras,  enjoining  therewith  an  exchange  of  letters 
with  them  of  Laodicea.^  With  Tychicus,  bearer  of  the 
correspondence,  Paul  associates  as  messenger  one  Onesi- 
mus,  whom  he  calls  "  a  faithful  and  dear  brother.^  The 
story  of  Onesimus  is  a  touching  one.  He  had  been  a 
slave  of  Philemon,  one  of  the  chief  men  in  the  church 
at  Colossae ;  he  robbed  his  master,  ran  away,  and  went 
to  hide  in  Rome.  Here,  perhaps  through  his  country- 
man Epaphras,  he  came  to  know  Paul,  who  made  a 
convert  of  him,  induced  him  to  return  to  his  master, 
and  made  him  companion  of  Tychicus  on  the  journey. 
To  calm  the  apprehension  which  this  poor  boy  might 
feel,  Paul  dictates  to  Timothy  a  note  for  Philemon,  — 
a  little  masterpiece  in  its  kind,  —  which  he  puts  into 
the  runaway's  hand.     Thus  he  writes:  — 

Paul,  a  prisoner  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  Timothy  his  brother, 
to  our  dear  friend  and  fellow-labourer  Philemon,  to  our  sister 
Appia,  and  to  our  comrade  in  arms  Archippus,  and  to  the 
church  that  is  in  your  house  :  grace  and  peace  to  you  all 
from  God  our  Father,  and  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord :  — 

I  thank  my  God,  making  mention  of  you  in  my  prayers, 
hearing  of  your  love  and  faith  to  the  Lord  Jesus  and  all  his 
saints,  that  your  fellowship  in  the  faith  may  be  effectual,  to 
the  knowledge  of  that  great  blessing  which  we  have  in  Christ. 
For  I  have  great  joy  and  comfort  in  your  love,  because  the 
very  heart  of  the  saints  has  rest  in  you,  my  brother.  And 
thus,  while  I  might  make  bold  in  Christ  to  enjoin  it  on  you 

1  Col.  iv.  12,  13. 

2  Ihid.  9,  with  Philemon,  throughout.  Onesimus  was  a  slave's  name 
(Suet.  Galba,  13). 


LATEST  ACTS  OF  PAUL,  ^y 

as  a  duty,  yet  I  choose  rather  to  urge  it  upon  you  for  love's 
sake,  —  the  more,  that  I  am  now  an  old  man,  and  in  prison  for 
Christ.  1  call  upon  you  for  my  own  child,  born  to  me  here 
in  prison  —  my  son  Onesimus,^  who  was  once  unhelpful  to 
you,  but  now  very  helpful  to  you  and  me.  I  have  sent  him 
back  to  you ;  and  pray  you  to  receive  him  as  the  child  of  my 
own  heart.  I  would,  indeed,  have  kept  him  with  me,  that  he 
might  serve  me  in  your  stead  here  in  my  gospel-prison ;  but 
I  would  not  do  it  without  your  knowledge,  lest  I  might  take 
your  kindness  by  force,  and  not  of  your  own  free  will. 

It  may  be,  indeed,  that  he  left  you  for  a  time  on  purpose 
that  you  might  take  him  back  for  good,^ — no  longer  as  a 
bondman,  but  better  than  that,  a  dear  brother :  very  dear  to 
me,  but  how  much  more  to  you,  both  in  his  own  person  and 
in  the  Lord !  If  then  you  hold  me  as  a  partner,  receive  him 
as  if  it  were  myself ;  and  if  he  wronged  you  once,  or  owes  you 
any  debt,  charge  it  to  my  account. 

And  here  Paul  takes  the  pen,  so  as  to  make  his 
letter  a  real  note  of  credit,  and  adds  these  words :  — 

I  Paul  write  this  with  my  own  hand.  I  will  pay  the  debt, 
without  making  any  account  of  what  you  owe  me,  —  namely, 
your  own  soul.  Yes,  my  brother,  let  me  have  "  help  "  of  you 
in  the  Lord,  and  do  you  comfort  my  heart  in  Christ. 

Here  he  proceeds  again  to  dictate  :  — . 

I  have  written  to  you  sure  of  your  consent,  and  knowing 
that  you  will  do  over  and  above  what  I  say.  But  make 
ready  to  receive  me  as  a  guest ;  for  I  hope  that  through  your 
prayers  I  may  receive  hospitality  of  you.  Epaphras,  my 
fellow-prisoner,  Mark,  Aristarchus,  Demas,  and  Luke,  my 
fellow-labourers,  salute  you.  The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  be  with  the  spirit  of  you  all. 

*  This  name  means  "helpful." 

«  Probably  an  allusion  to  Levit.  xxv.  46,  a  fruitful  text  of  rabbinic 
disputations. 

7 


98  ANTICHRIST, 

We  see  that  Paul  indulged  in  singular  illusions. 
He  thought  himself  to  be  on  the  point  of  deliverance ; 
he  was  already  forming  fresh  plans  of  travel,  and 
saw  himself  at  the  heart  of  Asia  Minor,^  among  the 
churches  that  revered  him  as  their  apostle,  and  yet 
had  never  heard  him.  John  Mark  too  was  preparing 
to  visit  Asia,  probably  on  some  behest  of  Peter.  The 
churches  in  Phrygia  had  already  been  advised  of  his 
speedy  arrival.  In  the  letter  to  the  Colossians  Paul 
inserts  a  new  recommendation  concerning  him.^  The 
air  of  this  recommendation  is  rather  cool.  Paul  was 
afraid  that  the  old  differences  between  them,  and  still 
more  Mark's  close  relations  with  the  party  of  Jerusalem, 
might  embarrass  his  friends  in  Asia,  and  that  they 
might  hesitate  about  receiving  a  man  whom  till  now 
they  had  had  reason  to  distrust.  Such  misunder- 
standings he  would  prevent,  and  hence  directed  his  own 
churches  to  receive  Mark  in  case  he  passed  their  way. 
Mark,  too,  was  a  nephew  of  Barnabas,^  whose  name 
was  dear  to  the  Galatians,  and  could  not  have  been 
unknown  in  Phrygia,  Colossae  being  only  some  forty 
leagues  from  Antioch  in  Pisidia,  in  the  province  of 
Galatia.  We  do  not  know  the  result.  A  severe  earth- 
quake had  just  devastated  all  the  valley  of  the  Lycus. 
The  rich  Laodicea  was  built  up  again  from  its  own 
resources,*  but  Colossae  could  not  recover;  it  almost 

1  We  find  similai'  hints  in  Acts  xix.  21 ;  Rom.  xv.  23,  24;  Phil.  i.  25; 
li.  24.  It  may  be  that  Paul,  to  revive  the  interest  of  his  disciples  in  these 
churches,  would  speak  of  these  intended  journeys  even  when  there  was 
but  slight  chance  of  them. 

2  Col.  iv.  10 ;  of.  1  Pet.  v.  13. 
8  Col.  iv.  10. 

*  Tac.  Ann,  xiv.  27;  of.  Apoc.  iii.  17,  18.  See  "Saint  Paul/'  chap. 
ziii 


LATEST  ACTS  OF  PAUL.  99 

disappears  from  the  list  of  churches  (having,  as 
Waddington  remarks,  no  coinage  of  its  own),  and  the 
Apocalypse,  in  69,  makes  no  mention  of  it.  Its  sig- 
nificance in  Christian  history  passes  over  to  Laodicea 
and  Hierapolis. 

Paul's  apostolic  activity  consoled  him  for  the  sorrows 
which  assailed  him  from  every  side.  He  reflected  that 
he  suffered  for  his  beloved  churches;  he  looked  on 
himself  as  the  victim  who  opened  to  the  gentiles  the 
doors  of  the  household  of  Israel.^  Still,  in  the  later 
months  of  his  imprisonment  he  felt  something  of 
despondency  and  loneliness.^  Already,  while  writing 
to  the  Philippians,^  in  contrasting  the  conduct  of  his 
dear  and  faithful  Timothy  to  that  of  some  others,  he 
had  said,  "Every  man  seeks  his  own,  and  not  the 
interest  of  Christ.'*  Timothy  alone  seems  never  to 
have  called  forth  any  complaint  from  this  severe  task- 
master, embittered  and  hard  to  please.  We  may  not 
suppose  that  Aristarchus,  Epaphras,  or  Jesus  called 
"  the  Just,"  had  abandoned  him ;  they  are,  indeed, 
numbered  among  the  faithful  in  Colossians  and  Ephe- 
sians.  But  several  of  them  may  have  been  away  at 
once.  Titus  was  on  a  mission;*  others,  who  owed 
everything  to  Paul,  —  especially  some  from  Asia,  among 
them  Phygellus  and  Hermogenes, — ceased  to  visit  him.^ 
Thronged  as  he  once  was,  he  was  now  left  almost  alone, 
shunned  by  the  Jewish  Christians,^  while  Luke  was  at 
times   his  only  companion.*'     His  disposition,  always 

1  Col.  i.  24;  Eph.  iii.  1. 

2  Col.  iv.  11.  2  Tim.  i.  15;  ii.  17,  18;  iii.  1-7, 13;  iv.  3,  4,  6-16.  The 
latter  epistle  is  not  Paul's,  but  it  may  show  marks  of  his  hand. 

8  Phil.  ii.  21.  *  2  Tim.  iv.  10.  ^  7^,/^.  i.  15. 

*  The  most  plausible  rendering  of  Col.  iv.  11;  cf.  Tit.  i.  10. 
'  2  Tim.  iv.  11. 


loo  ANTICHRIST, 

somewhat  sombre,  grew  more  harsh ;  it  was,  indeed, 
not  easy  to  live  in  his  company.  Thus  he  cruelly  felt 
the  ingratitude  of  men.  Every  word  he  is  supposed 
to  have  written  at  this  time  is  full  of  discontent  and 
bitterness, — the  whole  of  Second  Timothy,  for  example. 
The  church  at  Rome  was  closely  allied  with  that  at 
Jerusalem,  and,  for  the  most  part,  made  up  of  Jewish 
converts.  Jewish  orthodoxy  was  strong  at  Rome,  and 
must  have  made  an  obstinate  fight  against  him.  The 
heart  of  the  aged  apostle  was  bruised,  and  he  longed 
for  death  .^ 

If  we  had  to  do  with  one  of  a  different  temperament 
and  another  race,  we  should  try  to  conceive  of  Paul,  in 
these  last  days,  as  coming  to  the  conviction  that  he 
had  spent  his  life  for  a  dream,  as  renouncing  all  the 
sacred  Prophets  for  a  book  he  had  hardly  looked  into 
till  now,  —  Ecclesiastes,  a  delightful  book,  the  only  one 
of  so  kindly  temper  ever  written  by  a  Jew,  —  and  as 
declaring  that  the  happy  man  is  he  who,  having  lived 
till  old  age  in  content  with  the  wife  of  his  youth,  dies 
without  having  lost  a  child.^  A  trait  characteristic  of 
the  great  men  of  Europe  is  that,  at  certain  hours,  they 
yield  to  the  argument  of  Epicurus ;  while  still  in  the 
ardour  of  their  activity  they  are  seized  with  a  deep  weari- 

1  That  noble  passage,  "  I  am  now  ready  to  be  offered ;  I  have  fought 
a  good  fight,"  etc.  (2  Tim.  iv.  6-8),  though  held  by  many  to  be  from 
Paul's  own  pen,  appears  to  be  contradicted  by  the  plans  of  travel  he  was 
constantly  forming.  It  would  not  appear  that  he  had  ever,  in  his  prison, 
had  so  clear  a  presentiment  of  his  approaching  end  as  this  would  show. 

2  A  Greek  inscription  at  Beyrout  reads  thus  :  — 

Odpaei '  T€0vr]Kas  yap  OTreuB^Tois  eTri  TfKPOis, 
Zaovaav  TrpoXiirav  ^v  eirodets  oKoxov, 
Courage:  thou  diest  with  thy  children  yet  unmoumed. 
And  leavest  living  still  thy  well-beloved  spouse. 

{Mission  de  Phenicie,  p.  347.) 


LATEST  ACTS  OF  PAUL.  loi 

ness  of  life,  and  when  at  the  summit  of  success  doubt 
whether  the  cause  they  serve  is  worth  the  sacrifice  it 
has  cost.  Many,  at  the  height  of  action,  will  confess  to 
themselves  that  the  day  they  begin  to  be  wise  will  be 
the  day  when,  free  from  all  care,  they  contemplate 
and  enjoy  the  peace  of  Nature.  Few,  at  least,  wholly 
escape  these  vain  regrets.  There  is  hardly  a  priest,  a 
monk,  or  a  devotee,  who  does  not  at  fifty  bewail  his 
vow,  though  he  still  keep  true  to  it.  We  scarce  con- 
ceive a  hero  without  a  touch  of  scepticism  ;  we  approve 
the  virtuous  man  who  saj^s  now  and  then,  "I  have 
found  thee,  Virtue,  but  a  name."  For  he  who  is  too 
sure  of  the  reward  of  virtue  has  no  great  merit;  his 
good  deeds  then  seem  to  be  merely  a  good  investment. 
Jesus  was  himself  no  stranger  to  this  subtile  sentiment ; 
more  than  once  his  divine  charge  seems  to  have 
weighed  heavily  upon  him.  But,  surely,  it  was  not  so 
with  Paul.  He  never  had  his  agony  of  Gethsemane ; 
and  that  is  one  reason  why  we  find  him  less  dear  to 
our  hearts.  While  Jesus  had  in  their  loftiest  degree 
the  qualities  that  put  him  in  the  highest  rank  of  men, 
—  I  mean  the  gift  of  a  certain  buoyancy  in  his  task,  of 
being  on  a  level  above  it,  and  not  allowing  himself  to 
be  wholly  possessed  by  it,  —  Paul  was  not  quite  free 
from  the  defect  which  pains  us  in  our  sectaries :  he 
believes,  if  I  may  so  express  myself,  ponderously.  We 
should  choose  to  see  him  now  and  then  sitting,  like 
ourselves,  weary  at  the  wayside,  with  a  keen  sense 
of  the  vanity  of  sharply  defined  opinions.  Marcus 
Aurelius,  the  most  august  representative  of  our  Euro- 
pean race,  second  to  none  in  virtue,  did  not  even  know 
what  fanaticism  meant.  It  is  not  so  in  the  East.  Our 
Western  race  alone  is  capable  of  realising  virtue 

UNIVERSITY 


102  ANTICHRIST, 

out  faith,  of  combining  doubt  with  hope.  Those  strong 
Jewish  souls,  given  over  to  the  terrible  intensity  of 
their  nature,  exempt  from  the  dainty  vices  of  the  Greek 
and  Roman  civilisation,  were  like  powerful  springs 
always  under  tension.  Even  to  the  end,  Paul  doubt- 
less saw  before  him  the  imperishable  crown  laid  up  for 
him,  and  like  a  racer  strained  the  harder  as  he  neared 
the  goal  —  if  we  may  take  the  words  wrongly  ascribed 
to  him  ^  as  a  sort  of  historic  romance  in  perfect  keep- 
ing with  his  spirit  and  his  situation  in  these  last  days. 
He  had,  too,  his  intervals  of  consolation.  Onesiphorus 
of  Ephesus,  when  he  came  to  Rome,  found  him  out, 
and  without  shrinking  from  his  prison  cell,  waited  on 
him  and  refreshed  his  heart  ;^  while  Demas,  on  the 
other  hand,  tired  of  his  unbending  severity,  left  him,^ 
so  that,  as  we  see,  Paul  always  treats  him  with  a  cer- 
tain coldness.* 

Did  Paul  appear  before  Nero,  or  rather,  the  council 
to  which  his  appeal  was  made  ?  ^  It  is  almost  certain 
that  he  did.^  Hints  (of  doubtful  value,  it  is  true)  speak 
of  a  "  first  defence,"  at  which  no  friend  stood  by  him, 
from  which  he  came  off  successfully,  strong  in  the  grace 
that  upheld  him ;  so  that  he  compares  himself  to  one 
who  has  been  "delivered  from  a  lion's  mouth," ^ — still, 

1  2  Tim.  iv.  6-8.  2  /jj^.  i.  ig^  13.  «  lud.  iv.  9. 

*  Col.  iv.  14,  *♦  and  so  does  Demas.*' 

^  See  Dion  Cassias,  liii.  22. 

«  The  writer  of  Acts,  in  fact,  knew  how  the  case  was.  He  would  not 
have  put  in  Paul's  mouth  (xxiii.  11;  xxvii.  24)  a  prophecy  of  what  he 
knew  never  came  to  pass.  The  words,  "bear  witness  "  (fiaprvprjaai),  in 
the  former  passage,  denote  a  public  and  formal  testimony  —  as  we  see  by 
comparing  the  two  clauses  of  the  verse.  The  same  term  in  Clem.  Rom. 
on  1  Cor.  i.  5,  compared  with  Luke  xxi.  12,  seems  to  refer  to  appearing 
before  Nero*s  council:  cf.  1  Pet.  ii.  13-17. 

7  2  Tim.  iv.  16,  17. 


LATEST  ACTS  OF  PAUL.  103 

however,  being  kept  a  prisoner.^  It  is  probable  that 
his  case  was  dismissed  with  acquittal  at  the  end  of  two 
years  of  imprisonment.^  The  Roman  authority  had  no 
apparent  interest  in  condemning  him  for  a  sectarian 
dispute  in  which  it  felt  no  concern.  There  is,  besides, 
strong  reason  for  believing  that  before  Ids  death  he 
undertook  another  course  of  journeys  and  preachings, 
—  not,  however,  in  those  districts  of  Greece  and 
Asia  which  were  the  scenes  of  his  former  ministry. 
The  writer  of  Acts,  who  surely  knew  the  truth  about 
his  later  life,  would  not  have  lent  him  language  ^  that 
expressly  denied  this  truth. 

Five  years  before  this  time,  a  few  months  before 
his  arrest,  in  writing  from  Corinth  to  the  disciples  in 
Rome,  Paul  had  spoken*  of  his  intention  to  go  into 
Spain.  He  did  not  wish,  he  said,  to  remain  as  a 
teacher  among  them,  but  only  to  stay  a  little  while 
and  enjoy  the  sight  of  them  on  his  way  to  remoter 
parts.  Thus  his  visit  at  Rome  was  to  be  incidental  to 
a  distant  ministry,  which  seems  to  have  been  his  real 
object.  During  his  long  stay  there,  however,  he  seems 
at  times  to  have  changed  his  purpose  as  to  a  journey 

1  2  Tim.  i.  8. 

^  Acts  xxviii.  30.  The  languac;e  of  Acts  xxviii.  31  would  be  strange 
if  Paul  had  been  put  to  death  at  the  end  of  the  two  years.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  may  be  urged  that  if  he  had  been  acquitted  the  writer  —  always 
eager  to  prove  the  Romans  favourable  to  Christianity,  which  was  lawful 
under  certain  legal  precedents  —  would  not  have  failed  to  say  so,  and  to 
continue  his  account.  I  shall  show  hereafter  that  Clement  of  Rome, 
Second  Timothy,  and  the  Canon  of  Muratori  assume  journeys  of  Paul 
subsequent  to  his  captivity.  (Comp.  Euseb.  ii.  22;  Jerome,  Be  viris 
ill.  0;  Euthalius  in  Zaccagni,  Coll.  monum.  vet.  eccles.  Gr.  p.  531  et  seq.} 
These  are  weak  testimonies,  no  doubt,  since  they  rest  on  no  direct  tradi- 
tion, and  imply  a  theory  which  assumes  the  genuineness  of  **  Timothy  " 
and  "Titus." 

8  Acts  XX.  25.  *  Rom.  xv.  24,  28. 


I04  ANTICHRIST, 

in  the  West.  To  the  Philippians,^  and  to  Philemon  at 
Colossae,^  he  expresses  the  hope  of  visiting  them ;  but 
this,  it  is  clear,  he  never  did.^  What,  then,  was  his 
course  on  leaving  prison?  It  is  natural  to  suppose 
that  he  carried  out  his  first  plan,  and  set  out  upon  his 
journey  as  soon  as  he  could.  Some  strong  reasons 
would  lead  us  to  believe  that  he  effected  his  purpose  of 
going  to  Spain.*  This  journey  had  in  his  mind  a  high 
doctrinal  importance,  and  he  strongly  set  his  heart 
upon  it.^  It  was  his  earnest  wish  that  he  might 
report  the  glad  tidings  as  having  reached  the  extreme 
West ;  and  so  prove  the  gospel  promise  to  have  been 

1  Phil.  i.  25-27.  2  philem.  22. 

8  Acts  XX.  25:  "Ye  shall  see  my  face  no  more." 

*  1.  The  so-called  Canon  of  Muratori,  composed  at  Rome  late  in  the 
second  century,  speaks  of  this  as  a  well-known  fact  (11.  37,  38 :  see  the 
reading  of  Laurent,  Neutest.  Stud.  108-110,  200).  —2.  Clement  of  Rome 
(Epist.  i.  5)  says  that  Paul  preached  "to  the  limit  of  the  West,"  which, 
written  at  Rome,  can  hardly  signify  Rome  itself.  True,  in  the  apocry- 
phal epistle  of  Clement  to  James  at  the  beginning  of  the  "  Homilies," 
which  also  was  written  at  Rome,  still  stronger  expressions  are  used  as  to 
Peter,  who  yet,  in  the  writer's  view,  had  never  been  farther  than  Rome 
(chap.  i.).  Paul,  too  (Rom.  xvi.  26),  asserts  that  the  mystery  of  Christ 
has  been  revealed  "  to  all  nations; "  though  he  himself  in  the  same  epis- 
tle (xv.  19)  says  that  he  has  preached  it  only  as  far  as  Illyria,  —  an  expres- 
sion which  must  be  further  restricted  by  2  Cor.  x.  14,  16,  where  he  does 
not  speak  of  having  gone  farther  west  than  Corinth.  — 3.  The  follower  of 
Paul  who  wrote  2  Timothy,  thought  that  after  leaving  prison  he  completed 
his  mission  by  going  to  all  lands  yet  unvisited  (iv.  17),  which  journeys 
were  not  taken  towards  the  East  (Acts  xx.  25 ;  cf.  Epiph.  xxvii.  6 ;  Athan. 
Epist.  adDrac.  pt.  1;  Chrysost.  vii.  725;  xi.  724;  Theodoret  in  Phil.  i.  25; 
2  Tim.  iv.  17;  Hippol.  of  Thebes,  De  duod.  apost.  (Gallandi,  Bibl.  patrum^ 
xiv.  117).  All  these  prove  little,  since  they  rest,  not  on  tradition,  but  on 
an  inference  from  Rom.  xv.  28.  Eusebius  knows  nothing  of  such  an 
episode.  In  general,  the  story  of  Paul's  journey  to  Spain  fell  into  dis- 
favour in  the  Church  opinion  of  the  third  and  the  fourth  centuries,  because 
of  an  a  priori  preference  for  the  view  that  Peter  and  Paul  died  together  as 
martyrs  at  Rome,  which  that  journey  appeared  to  contradict. 

^  See  Ignatius,  Ad  Rom.  2. 


LATEST  ACTS  OF  PAUL, 


105 


fulfilled,  since  it  had  been  carried  to  the  very  ends  of 
the  world.^  This  is  not  the  only  case  in  which  the 
extent  of  his  travels  was  exaggerated  in  his  mind.^ 
It  was  a  common  belief  among  the  faithful  that  before 
Christ's  reappearing  the  kingdom  of  God  must  have 
been  preached  everywhere.^  In  the  apostles'  way  of 
speaking,  to  preach  it  in  a  single  city  was  enough  to 
claim  that  it  had  been  spoken  through  that  country; 
to  preach  it  to  ten  persons  in  a  city  would  justify  them 
in  saying  that  that  city  had  heard  it. 

If  Paul  went  as  far  as  Spain,  he  doubtless  went  by 
sea.  It  is  just  posssible  that  some  port  in  the  south  of 
Gaul  received  the  impress  of  his  footstep.  In  any  case, 
there  remains  no  appreciable  result  of  that  problematic 
journey  to  the  West. 

^  Revel,  xiv.  6.  Comp.  Melito,  De  veritatey  p.  xl,  18,  19;  Spicilegium 
Sol.  vol.  2. 

*  See  "  Saint  Paul,"  end  of  chap.  xvii. 

*  Matt,  xxiv,  14:  **  This  gospel  of  the  kingdom  shall  be  preached  in  all 
the  world  for  a  witness  unto  all  nations,  and  then  shall  the  end  come." 


CHAPTER  V. 

HEARING  THE   CRISIS. — A.  D.  63. 

* 

At  the  close  of  Paul's  imprisonment  we  lose  at  once 
the  guidance  of  the  Acts  and  the  Epistles.  We  fall 
into  a  deep  night,  in  sharp  contrast  to  the  clear  historic 
light  of  the  last  ten  years.  The  writer  of  Acts  stops 
short,  no  doubt  to  avoid  the  need  of  telling  the 
hateful  acts  of  that  Roman  power  which  he  has  treated 
with  such  marked  respect,  and  has  taken  so  many 
occasions  to  exhibit  as  favourable  to  the  Christians.-^ 
This  blank  silence  makes  us  quite  unsure  of  the  events 
we  should  most  like  to  know.  Happily,  Tacitus  and 
the  book  of  Revelation  throw  a  bright  ray  upon  this 
deep  night.  Up  to  this  time,  Christianity  has  been  the 
secret  of  those  humble  folk  to  whom  it  has  been  their 
one  source  of  gladness ;  it  is  now  about  to  burst  upon 
the  stage  of  history  with  a  clap  of  thunder  whose  echoes 
are  far  and  long. 

The  apostles,  as  we  have  seen,  relaxed  no  effort  to 
moderate  the  passion  of  their  brethren,  stirred  by  the 
outrages  of  which  they  were  the  victims.  This  effort 
did  not  always  succeed.  At  sundry  times  Christians 
had  been  condemned,  and  it  had  been  possible  to  assert 
that  their  sentence  was  the  penalty  of  some  crime  or 
misdemeanour.  The  rule  for  such  cases  —  what  we  may 
call  "  the  martyr's  code  "  —  is  laid  down  by  the  apos- 
tles with  excellent  good  sense.     "  Is  one  condemned  for 

1  See  Introduction  to  "The  Apostles." 


NEARING   THE  CRISIS.  I07 

bearing  the  name  of  Christian  ?  Happy  is  he ;  ^  Jesus 
himself  has  said,  '  Ye  shall  be  hated  of  all  men  for  my 
name's  sake.'  "  ^  But,  to  be  entitled  to  count  that  hate 
a  privilege,  one  must  be  without  reproach.  About 
this  time  —  partly  to  calm  undue  excitement,  to  check 
acts  of  insubordination  against  public  authority,  and 
also  to  assert  his  own  right  of  counsel  to  all  the 
churches  —  Peter,  in  imitation  of  Paul,  thought  good 
to  write  a  circular  letter  of  instruction  to  the  Christian 
bodies  of  Asia  Minor,  Jewish  and  pagan  converts  alike. 
Epistles  were  the  order  of  the  day;  they  served  not 
merely  the  purpose  of  correspondence,  but  made  a 
special  form  of  literature,  a  class  by  itself,  of  little 
religious  treatises.^  Paul,  as  we  have  seen,  followed 
this  course  in  his  imprisonment.  Each  of  the  apostles, 
after  his  example,  would  have  his  own  epistle,  a  sample 
of  his  style  and  manner  of  instruction,  containing  his 
favourite  maxims,  —  or,  if  he  did  not,  others  did  it  for 
him.  This  new  style  of  epistle,  later  called  "catholic," 
did  not  assume  a  special  message  to  any  one  in  par- 
ticular ;  but  it  was  its  writer's  own  word,  his  sermon, 
his  ruling  thought,  his  theological  "  brief  "  in  eight  or 
ten  pages.  Scraps  of  phrases  might  be  taken  from  the 
homiletic  common  stock,  which  by  constant  borrowing 
had  lost  their  label,  and  belonged  to  nobody. 

Mark  had  just  returned  from  Asia  Minor,*  whither 
he  had  gone  by  Peter's  commission,  with  a  note  of 
introduction  from  Paul;^  and  his  journey  was  perhaps 
the  occasion  of  a  good  understanding  between  the  two. 

1  1  Peter  iv.  14. 

2  Matt.  X.  22 ;  xxiv.  9.   Mark  xiii.  13.    Luke  xxi.  12,  17. 

'  See  Introduction  to  "  Saint  Paul  5 "  and,  for  the  genuineness  of 
1  Peter,  pp.  4,  5,  ante. 

*  1  Pet.  V.  13.  5  Col.  iv.  10. 


io8  ANTICHRIST, 

It  had,  further,  put  Peter  in  touch  with  the  Eastern 
churches,  and  gave  him  a  certain  right  to  address  them 
on  points  of  doctrine.  Mark,  as  usual,  served  him  as 
amanuensis  and  interpreter  in  the  drafting  of  his  letter, 
for  we  may  doubt  whether  Peter  could  speak  or  write 
either  Greek  or  Latin,  his  own  tongue  being  Syriac.^ 
Mark  stood  in  relations  with  both  Peter  and  Paul, 
and  this  may  explain  the  borrowings  in  Peter's  epistle 
from  the  writings  of  Paul ;  or,  if  we  are  to  infer  that 
the  writer  was  Silvanus  or  Silas,^  Paul's  companion 
at  Philippi,  our  argument  is  still  stronger.  At  all 
events  Peter,  or  his  amanuensis,  or  whoever  wrote  in 
his  name,  had  before  his  eyes  both  Romans  and  Ephe- 
sians,^  which  are  the  two  "  catholic  "  epistles  of  Paul, 
—  true  circular  letters,  distributed  everywhere.  The 
church  at  Rome  may  have  had  a  copy  of  Ephesians,  a 
recent  document,  a  sort  of  general  formulary  of  his 
faith,  addressed  to  a  group  of  churches,  and  was  still 
surer  to  have  one  of  Romans.  But  Paul's  other  writ- 
ings, which  were  more  of  the  nature  of  private  letters, 
can  hardly  have  been  known  there.  A  few  less  char- 
acteristic passages  in  Peter  seem  to  have  been  taken 
from  James.*  Peter  had  held  something  of  a  neutral 
position  in  the  apostolic  controversies ;  and  was  he  not 

*  Euseb.  Demonstr.  evang.  iii.  5,  7. 
2  1  Pet.  V.  12. 

8  Comp.  1  Pet.  i.  1,  2  with  Eph.  i.  4-7;  i.  3:  Eph,  i.  3 ;  i.  14: 

Eph.  ii.  3;  Rom.  xii.  2;  i.  21:  Rom.  iv.  24  ;  ii.  5:  Rom.  xii.  1 ; 

ii.  6-10:  Rom.  ix.  25,  32,  33;  ii.  11;  Rom.  vii.  23;  ii.  13: 

Rom.  xiii.  1-4;  ii.  18:  Eph.  vi.  5; iii.  1:  Eph.  v.  22;  iii.  9: 

Rom.  xii.  17;  iii.  22:  Rom.  viii.  24;  Eph.  i.  20;  iv.  1:  Rom.  vi. 

6;  iv.  10,  11:  Rom.  xii.  6-8;  v.  1:  Rom.  viii.  18;  v.  5: 

Eph.  v.  21-24.     See  Introd.  to  "  Saint  Paul." 

*  Comp.  1  Pet.  i.  6,  7  with  Jas.  i.  2 ;  i.  24 :  Jas.  i.  10, 11 ;  ■ 

iv.  8:  Jas.  v.  20;  v.  5,  9:  Jas.  iv.  6,  7,  10. 


NEARING   THE  CRISIS.  109 

glad  of  the  opportunity  to  make  James  and  Paul  speak, 
as  it  were,  by  one  mouth,  and  so  show  that  the  differ- 
ence between  them  was  only  on  the  surface?  As  a 
pledge  of  friendly  feeling,  would  he  not  make  himself 
the  spokesman  of  the  Pauline  ideas  —  softened,  it  is 
true,  and  without  the  essential  cap-stone  of  salvation 
by  faith  ?  It  is  more  likely,  however,  that  he  knew 
his  own  slender  literary  faculty,  and  made  no  scruple 
of  appropriating  to  his  own  use  the  pious  phrases 
which  were  constantly  repeated  about  him,  and,  though 
from  different  sources,  did  not  formally  contradict  one 
another.  Happily  for  him,  he  seems  all  his  life  to  have 
been  a  very  commonplace  theologian,  and  we  must  not 
look  in  his  writings  for  any  consistent  system. 

The  radical  difference  in  the  habitual  point  of  view 
between  Peter  and  Paul  appears  in  the  first  line  of  the 
epistle :  "  Peter,  an  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  the 
exiles  of  the  Dispersion  in  Pontus,  Galatia,"  etc.  Such 
expressions  are  wholly  Jewish.  To  the  Palestinian 
mind  the  family  of  Israel  was  made  up  of  two  parts,  — 
those  who  did  and  those  who  did  not  dwell  in  the  Holy 
Land ;  those  who  did  not  {Toshahim)  are  comprised 
under  the  general  name  of  the  Dispersion  {Galoutha). 
To  Peter  and  to  James  (i.  1),  the  Christians,  even  of 
pagan  origin,^  are  so  completely  a  part  of  the  people 
of  Israel  that  every  church  outside  of  Palestine  belongs 
in  their  view  in  the  list  of  "  exiles."  Jerusalem  is  the 
only  spot  on  earth  where  the  Christian  can  be  really  at 
home.^ 

The  Epistle  of  Peter,  in  spite  of  its  poor  style  (much 

1  Thus,  1  Pet.  i.  14,  18;  ii.  9, 10;  iii.  6;  iv.  3  are  evidently  addressed 
to  pagan  converts, 
a  1  Pet.  ii.  11,  12. 


no  ANTICHRIST, 

more  like  PauVs  than  that  of  James  or  Jude),  is  a 
touching  fragment,  reflecting  admirably  the  state  of 
the  Christian  mind  toward  the  end  of  Nero's  reign. 
If  it  is  not  his  own  writing  (a  supposition  which  the 
great  number  of  spurious  apostolic  writings  in  circula- 
tion requires  me  to  mention),  at  least  its  composer  has 
faithfully  caught  the  spirit  of  that  time,  and  it  is 
curiously  parallel  in  many  places  with  the  Apocalypse.^ 
It  is  pervaded  by  a  gentle  sadness,  a  resigned  confi- 
dence. The  last  days  are  close  at  hand.^  Before  them 
will  come  trials,  from  which  the  elect  will  come  forth 
purified  as  by  fire.  Jesus,  whom  the  faithful  love  and 
believe  in,  never  having  seen  him,  will  soon  appear 
and  fill  them  with  joy.  Foreseen  by  God  from  all 
eternity,  foretold  by  the  prophets,  the  mystery  of  Re- 
demption has  been  effected  by  his  death  and  resurrec- 
tion. The  elect,  called  to  a  new  birth  in  his  blood, 
are  a  people  of  saints,  a  spiritual  temple,  a  royal 
priesthood,  offering  spiritual  victims.     Thus  :  — 

Beloved,  I  call  upon  you  as  aliens  and  exiles,  to  maintain 
an  honourable  bearing  among  the  gentiles,  keeping  yourselves 
free  from  carnal  desires  that  war  against  the  soul ;  so  that 
while  men  speak  against  you  as  ill-doers,  they  may  look  upon 
your  honourable  works  and  praise  God  in  the  day  of  his  visi- 
tation. Be  subject  by  the  Lord's  help  to  every  ordinance  of 
man:  to  the  Emperor,  as  sovereign  ;  to  governors,  as  commis- 
sioned by  him  to  the  punishment  of  those  who  do  evil  and  the 
honour  of  those  who  do  well.  It  is  God's  will  that  by  your 
right  conduct  you  put  to  silence  the  ignorance  of  foolish  men ; 
as  freemen,  not  holding  your  freedom  as  a  cloak  of  malice, 
but  as  bondmen  of  God.  Honour  all  men ;  love  the  brother- 
hood ;  fear  God ;  honour  the  emperor.     If  house-servants,  be 

1  See  1  Pet.  iv.  7,  14,  15,  16;  v.  13. 

2  Ihid.  i.  7,13;  iv.  7,  13;  v.  1,  10. 


NEARING   THE   CRISIS.  iii 

submissive  to  your  masters  with  all  dread,  —  not  only  to  the 
good  and  indulgent,  but  also  to  those  of  crooked  temper.  It 
is  a  privilege  to  suffer  pain  for  one's  faith  through  his  con- 
science toward  God,  suffering  unjustly.  For  what  glory  is  it 
if  you  endure  being  punished  for  a  fault  ?  but  if  you  endure 
suffering  when  you  have  done  well,  that  is  a  grateful  thing  in 
the  sight  of  God.  That  is  the  very  thing  you  were  called  to; 
for  Christ,  too,  suffered  for  your  sake,  leaving  you  an  example 
that  you  sliould  follow  in  his  steps.  He  did  no  wrong,  and  no 
deceit  was  found  in  his  mouth ;  when  insulted  he  did  not 
retort  with  insult,  or  threaten  when  he  suffered  wrong,  but 
left  his  defence  to  Him  who  judges  justly.^ 

The  ideal  of  Christ's  Passion  —  the  touching  picture 
of  his  suffering  without  anger  or  complaint  —  wrought 
thus  early,  as  we  see,  a  powerful  effect  upon  the  Chris- 
tian conscience.  We  may  doubt  whether  the  story  of 
it  was  already  written.  This  story  grew  from  time  to 
time  by  the  addition  of  new  incidents :  thus  the  passage 
in  this  epistle  (ii.  23)  seems  to  show  that  the  prayer  of 
Jesus  for  his  tormentors  ^  was  not  known  to  the  writer. 
But  the  main  features  of  it  were  fixed  in  the  memory 
of  the  faithful,  and  stood  before  them  as  perpetual 
admonitions  to  long-suffering.  One  of  the  leading 
thoughts  among  them  was  that  "the  Messiah  must 
needs  suffer."  ^  Jesus,  or  a  true  disciple  of  his,  ap- 
peared to  their  imagination  under  the  form  of  a  lamb, 
brought  dumb  to  the  slaughter.  This  tender  lamb, 
slain  in  its  early  days  by  cruel  men,  clung  to  their 
hearts ;  they  lavished  upon  it  thoughts  of  pitying  affec- 
tion, a  loving  tenderness  like  that  of  Mary  Magdalen 
at  the  sepulchre.     The  innocent  victim,  with  the  knife 

1  1  Pet.  ii.  11-23. 

2  »*  Father,  forgive  them."     Luke  xxiii.  34. 
8  Ihid.  xxiv.  26;  Acts  xvii.  3;  xxvi.  23. 


112  ANTICHRIST, 

plunged  in  its  bleeding  flesh,  drew  tears  from  all  who 
heard  the  tale.  The  expression  "Lamb  of  God/'  as 
applied  to  Jesus,  was  already  in  use,^  and  was  closely 
connected  with  the  idea  of  the  paschal  lamb.^  One  of 
the  profoundest  symbols  of  Christian  art  existed  in 
germ  in  these  two  images.  Such  an  appeal  to  fancy, 
which  so  touched  Saint  Francis  of  Assisi  as  to  draw 
tears,  came  from  that  noble  passage  of  the  second 
Isaiah,^  which  describes  the  ideal  Hebrew  Prophet,  the 
"man  of  sorrows,"  as  a  lamb  led  to  the  slaughter,  or 
"  a  sheep  that  before  her  shearers  is  dumb." 

This  pattern  of  humble  submission  Peter  would 
make  the  rule  of  conduct  in  every  rank  of  the  Chris- 
tian community.  The  elders  must  govern  their  flock 
with  gentleness,  avoiding  all  air  of  command ;  the 
younger  must  submit  themselves  to  the  older;  above 
all,  the  woman,  who  may  not  preach,  must  by  the 
modest  charm  of  her  piety  be  the  chief  missionary  of 
the  faith :  — 

And  do  you  wives  be  in  like  manner  submissive  to  your 
husbands,  so  that,  if  any  of  them  are  not  persuaded  by  the 
word,  they  may,  without  the  word,  be  won  by  beholding  your 
pure  and  modest  life.  And  your  adorning,  let  it  be  not  the 
.outside  braiding  of  the  hair,  or  wearing  of  golden  ornaments 
or  rich  garments,  but  the  hidden  beauty  of  the  heart,  the 
indestructible  charm  of  a  calm  and  gentle  spirit  which  is 
precious  in  the  eye  of  God.  For  so  those  holy  women  of  old, 
whose  hope  was  in  God,  adorned  themselves,  and  were  dutiful 
to  their  own  husbands  —  like  Sarah,  whose  true  daughters  you 

1  See  1  Pet.  i.  19;  ii.  22-25;  Acts  viii.  32;  John  i.  29,  36;  Rev. 
(throughout);  Epist.  Barn.  5. 

2  John  xix.  36 ;  Justin,  Tryj>h.  40. 

8  Chap.  lii.  13-liii.  12.  [The  passage  is  given  in  full  in  the  *'  Life  of 
Jesus,"  pp.  82,  83.] 


NEARING   THE  CRISIS.  113 

are  as  long  as  you  do  well  and  give  way  to  no  idle  terror 
(jrTor^aLv)  ;  for  she  was  submissive  to  Abraham,  and  called 
him  "  my  lord."  You  men,  too,  deal  with  your  wives  consid- 
erately, as  becomes  the  stronger  or  more  intelligent  towards 
the  weaker,  giving  them  honour  as  joint-heirs  with  you  of  the 
grace  of  life.  And  in  fine,  be  all  united  in  mind,  compassion- 
ate, with  brotherly  love,  warm-hearted,  thinking  modestly  of 
yourselves.  Do  not  give  back  evil  for  evil,  or  taunt  for  taunt ; 
but  return  words  of  kindness.  For  who  will  do  you  harm  if 
you  follow  the  example  of  the  good  ?  But  even  if  you  suffer 
for  well-doing,  count  that,  too,  a  privilege.^ 

Hope  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  declared  by  Christians, 
gave  occasion  to  misunderstandings,^  the  pagans  sup- 
posing that  they  spoke  of  a  political  revolution  just 
about  to  take  place.     Hence,  says  Peter, — 

Have  an  answer  always  ready  for  any  that  demand  a 
reason  for  your  hope,  but  give  it  with  modesty  and  deference, 
strong  in  your  good  conscience ;  so  that  those  who  speak  un- 
justly of  you  as  criminals  may  be  put  to  shame.  It  is  better 
to  suffer  for  right-doing,  if  God  wills  it  so,  than  for  wrong- 
doing.3  Long  enough  have  you  wrought  the  will  of  the  pagans, 
when  you  lived  in  debauchery,  wantonness,  drunken  excesses, 
revellings,  banquetings,  and  wicked  service  of  false  gods. 
And  now  they  think  it  strange  that  you  do  not  plunge  into 
the  same  excess  of  profligacy  with  them,  and  vilify  you,  —  for 
which  they  will  give  account  to  One  who  stands  ready  to  judge 
the  living  and  the  dead.*     The  end  of  all  is  drawing  near !  — 

Dear  friends,  do  not  be  amazed  at  the  fire  that  is  kindled 
to  try  you,  as  if  some  strange  thing  had  befallen  you ;  but  be 
glad  that  you  are  to  have  a  share  in  Christ's  suffering,  so  that 
in  the  revealing  of  his  glory  you  may  rejoice  with  great  joy. 
But  let  not  one  of  you  suffer  as  a  murderer,  or  thief,  or  male- 

1  1  Pet.  iii.  1-14. 

2  As  we  see  from  Hegesippus  in  Euseb.  iii.  20. 

8  1  Pet.  iii.  15-17.  ^  md.  iv.  3-7. 

8 


114  ANTICHRIST. 

factor,  or  one  who  spies  into  another  man's  affairs.  If  any 
one  suffers  as  a  Christian,  let  him  not  be  ashamed,  bat  let  him 
thank  God  that  he  shares  that  name ;  for  the  time  is  come 
for  judgment  to  begin  from  God's  house,  and  if  it  comes  to 
us  first,  how  will  it  be  with  those  who  have  not  obeyed  his 
gospel  ?  If  it  is  a  hard  thing  to  save  the  good,  what  will  the 
case  be  of  the  impious  and  wicked  ?  Let  those,  then,  who 
suffer  by  God's  will  in  their  well-doing,  commit  their  lives  to 
him  as  a  faithful  Creator.^  Humble  yourselves,  under  the 
strong  hand  of  God,  that  he  may  lift  you  up  in  his  good  time. 
Be  sober  and  keep  awake ;  your  adversary,  the  false  accuser, 
roams  about  like  a  roaring  lion,  seeking  whom  he  may  devour. 
Stand  firm  against  him,  strong  in  the  faith ;  for  you  know  that 
the  same  things  you  endure  are  suffered  also  by  the  brother- 
hood through  the  world.  After  a  little  suffering,  the  all- 
gracious  God  will  fully  restore  you,  strengthen  and  establish 
you.     His  is  the  glory  and  strength  in  every  age.^ 

If  this  epistle  is  Peter's  own,  as  I  am  glad  to  think, 
it  does  all  credit  to  his  good  sense,  uprightness,  and 
candour.  In  it  he  asserts  no  authority ;  speaking  to 
elders,  he  calls  himself  a  fellow-elder.^  He  puts  him- 
self forward  only  because  he  has  been  a  witness  of 
Christ's  suffering,  and  hopes  to  share  the  glory  that 
will  presently  be  revealed.  The  letter  was  carried  into 
Asia  by  one  Silvanus,  no  doubt  the  same  with  the 
Silvanus  or  Silas  who  was  Paul's  companion,  as  we 
may  infer  from  the  words  "as  I  suppose"  near  the 
close.*  In  this  case  he  was  selected  as  one  already 
known  to  the  disciples  in  Asia  Minor  through  his 
journey  there  with  Paul.  To  these  distant  churches 
Peter  sends  the  greetings  of  Mark  in  a  form  which 
assumes  that  he  too  is  not  a  stranger  to  them.^ 

1  1  Pet.  iv.  12-19.  2  Ilia.  V.  6-11.  »  lUd.  ver.  1. 

*  lUd.  ver.  12.  «  1  Pet.  v.  13;  cf.  Col.  iv.  10. 


NEARING   THE   CRISIS.  I15 

The  letter  ends  with  the  customary  salutations.  The 
church  in  Rome  is  indicated  by  the  words  "elect  at 
Babylon."  The  sect  was  closely  watched.  Too  plain 
a  letter,  if  intercepted,  might  bring  disastrous  conse- 
quences. To  put  any  suspicions  of  the  police  on  a  false 
track,  Peter  chose  to  indicate  Rome  by  the  name  of  the 
old  capital  of  Asiatic  impiety,  whose  symbolic  meaning 
would  be  well  understood,  and  would  presently  furnish, 
in  the  Apocalypse,  the  main  theme  of  an  entire  poem.^ 

1  See  Euseb.  ii.  15:  2;  comp.  Rev.  xiv.  8;  xvi.  19;  xvii.  5;  xviii.  2, 
10,  21;  Carm.  Sibyll.  v.  142,  158;  Midrash,  Shir  hasshirim  rabba,  i.  6; 
Commodiau,  Jyistr.  acrost.  xli.  12;  Apocalypse  of  Esdras,  i.  1,  28,  32.  It 
is  unlikely  that  Babylon  on  the  Euphrates  is  meant  in  1  Pet.  v.  13. 
Christianity  in  the  first  century  did  not  reach  out  in  the  direction  of 
Babylonia.  Moreover,  a  few  years  before  the  date  of  this  epistle,  the 
Jews  had  been  expelled  from  Babylon,  and  had  even  been  compelled 
to  abandon  Seleucia  and  Ctesiphon  for  Nehardea  and  Nisibe  (Josephus, 
Antiq.  xviii.  9:  8,  9).  In  the  third  century  there  were  no  longer  any 
minim  at  Nehardea  (Babyl.  Talm.  Pesachim,  66  a).  Such  symbolic  names 
are  extremely  common  amongst  the  Jews  (Esther  iii.  1,  10;  viii.  3,  5; 
Rev.  xi.  8).  In  like  manner  Rome  is  sometimes  called  "  Nineveh  "  (Bux- 
torf,  Lex.  chald.  col.  221)  ;  the  Roman  empire  is  "Edom;  "  the  Christiana 
are  "  Cuthim,"  and  the  Slavs,  ♦'  Chanaan."     (See  chap,  ii.,  ante.) 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CONFLAGRATION   OF   ROME. — A.  D.  64. 

The  violent  madness  of  Nero  at  length  reached  a 
crisis  in  the  most  shocking  catastrophe  which  the 
world  had  ever  known.  An  invincible  necessity  had 
put  all  power  at  that  time  into  a  single  hand,  —  that  of 
the  heir  of  Caesar's  great  legendary  name.  Any  other 
rule  was  then  impossible.  Commonly  the  provinces 
found  themselves  well  content  under  it ;  but  yet  it  hid 
an  enormous  danger.  If  the  Caesar  of  the  day  should 
lose  his  wits,  if  all  the  veins  in  his  poor  head,  dis- 
turbed by  a  power  till  then  unheard-of,  should  burst 
at  once,  there  followed  insanity  without  a  name :  the 
world  was  given  over  to  a  monster.  There  was  no 
way  to  drive  him  out :  his  German  guard,  having 
everything  to  lose  if  he  should  fall,  raged  furiously 
about  him ;  the  wild  boar,  driven  to  bay,  showed  his 
tusks  and  fought  with  desperation.  In  Nero's  case,  it 
was  a  thing  at  once  frightful  and  grotesque,  imposing 
and  absurd.  As  he  was,  in  his  way,  a  man  of  letters, 
his  insanity  took  in  the  main  a  literary  turn.  The 
dreams  of  all  ages,  all  poems,  all  legends,  —  Bacchus 
and  Sardanapalus,  Ninus  and  Priam,  Troy  and  Babylon, 
Homer  and  the  stale  poetry  of  the  day,  —  danced  a 
chaotic  dance  in  one  poor  brain.  It  was  the  brain  of 
a  wretched  artist,  who  took  himself  very  seriously,  to 
whom  chance  had  given  the  power  to  realise  all  his 


CONFLAGRATION  OF  ROME.  117 

vagaries.-^  Imagine,  then,  a  man  about  as  level-headed 
as  the  heroes  in  a  drama  of  Victor  Hugo,  —  one  to 
figure  in  a  carnival,  a  mixture  of  madman,  dunce, 
and  actor,  —  clothed  with  resistless  power,  and  charged 
with  the  administration  of  the  world.  He  had  not 
the  black-hearted  malignity  of  Domitian,^  the  love  of 
wickedness  for  its  own  sake ;  nor  was  he  a  monster 
of  extravagance,  like  Caligula.  He  was  a  painstaking 
stage-hero,  an  operatic  emperor,  music-mad,  trembling 
before  the  pit,  and  making  that  tremble  too,^  —  what 
a  commonplace  citizen  of  our  day  would  be,  crazed  by 
the  reading  of  modern  poets  and  fancying  himself 
bound  in  every-day  life  to  imitate  the  characters  of 
some  romantic  fiction.* 

Now,  government  is  eminently  a  practical  matter. 
Komanticism  in  it  is  wholly  out  of  place.  It  is  at 
home  in  the  world  of  art,  but  in  the  world  of  action 
it  is  quite  the  opposite.  In  the  education  of  a  prince, 
it  is  fatal  above  all  things.  In  this  view,  Seneca  did 
his  imperial  pupil  much  more  harm  by  his  bad  literary 
taste  than  good  by  his  fine  philosophy.  Seneca  was  a 
man  of  brilliant  parts,  of  talent  beyond  the  common, — 
a  man  much  to  be  respected  in  spite  of  more  than  one 
blot,  but  completely  spoiled  by  a  declamatory  and  lit- 
erary vanity,  incapable  of  sound  feeling  or  of  reason- 
ing except  in  formal  phrases.  By  dint  of  training  his 
pupil  to  express  things  he  had  never  thought,  and  to 
put  together  strings  of  sublime  words  in  advance  of 
any  meaning,  he  made  of  him  a  thin-skinned  comedian, 
a  vile  rhetorician,  spouting   sentiments  of  humanity 

^  Suet.  ISIero,  20,  49.  2  m^^  20,  39;  Jos.  Aniiq.  xx.  8:  3. 

8  Suet.  Nero,  23,  24. 

*  *^  Han  d^ Island e^^  and  "Zc5  Burgraves,^^  the  titles  of  a  tale  and  a 
drama  of  Victor  Hugo.  —  Ed. 


ii8  ANTICHRIST. 

when  he  was  sure  of  having  listeners.  The  old  peda- 
gogue saw  deeply  into  the  'evil  of  the  time,  his  pupils' 
and  his  own,  when  he  exclaimed,  in  one  of  his  sincere 
moments,  "  We  are  sick  with  a  flux  of  words  "  (^Litter- 
arum  intemperaniia  labor amus}). 

These  absurdities  in  Nero  seemed  harmless  at  first ; 
the  trained  ape  watched  himself  a  while,  and  kept 
the  posture  which  his  masters  had  taught  him.  He 
displayed  no  special  cruelty  till  after  the  death  of  his 
mother  Agrippina ;  but  that  vice  soon  possessed  him 
wholly.  Hereafter,  every  year  is  marked  by  some  new 
crime.  Burrhus  disappears,  and  everybody  thinks  he 
was  put  to  death  by  Nero ;  the  innocent  Octavia  passes 
away  from  the  world,  steeped  in  calumny;  Seneca 
keeps  in  his  retreat,  expecting  arrest  at  any  hour, 
brooding  upon  dreaded  tortures,  hardening  his  thought 
by  meditation  on  the  scourge  and  axe,  exerting  himself 
to  prove  that  death  is  a  deliverance.^  When  Tigellinus 
is  master  of  everything,  the  revel  is  at  its  height. 
Every  day  Nero  proclaims  that  Art  is  the  only  thing 
to  be  taken  seriously  ;  that  all  virtue  is  a  lie ;  that  the 
real  gentleman  is  he  who  shamelessly  avows  his  shame ; 
that  the  great  man  is  he  who  can  intelligently  abuse 
all,  ruin  all,  squander  all.^  A  man  of  virtue  is  to  him 
a  hypocrite,  a  conspirator,  a  dangerous  fellow,  above  all, 
a  rival  to  himself ;  and  when  he  discovers  in  any  man 
some  shocking  turpitude  that  seems  to  prove  his  theory, 
he  feels  a  new  delight.  The  political  dangers  that 
grow  from  inflation,  and  that  vile  spirit  of  rivalry 
which  was  from  the  beginning  the  worm  at  the  root 
of  Latin  civilisation,  begin  to  be  laid  bare.     This  third- 

^  Letters  to  Lucilius,  cvi.  12.  ^  g^e  Conwlaiio  ad  Marciam,  20. 

8  Suet.  Nero,  20,  29,  30 ;  Dion  Cassius,  Ixi.  4,  5. 


CONFLAGRATION  OF  ROME.  119 

rate  actor  has  succeeded  in  giving  himself  the  power  of 
life  and  death  over  his  auditory;  this  amateur  poet 
can  threaten  with  torture  those  who  do  not  applaud 
his  verse.  A  monomaniac,  tipsy  with  a  glimmer  of 
literary  fame,  who  turns  the  fine  sayings  he  has  learned 
by  heart  into  cannibal  jests, — an  ugly-tempered  street- 
Arab,  bidding  for  cheers  from  would-be  wits  of  the 
pavement,  —  such  is  the  sovereign  under  whom  the 
empire  groans.  Extravagance  like  this  had  never  been 
seen  before.  Oriental  despots,  terrible  but  austere,  did 
not  break  out  into  these  crazy  fits  of  laughter,  these 
debauches  of  diseased  artistry.  Caligula's  madness  had 
been  short-lived  ;  it  was  but  a  fit,  and  at  bottom  he 
was  a  jester  with  a  modicum  of  real  wit.  But  Nero's 
insanity,  on  the  contrary,  which  in  general  was  only 
silly,  was  now  and  then  frightfully  tragical.  Most 
shocking  of  all  it  was  to  see  him,  in  his  own  declama- 
tory style,  make  stage-play  of  his  remorse,  turning 
it  into  capital  for  his  poetry.  In  his  melodramatic 
fashion,  he  would  cry  out  that  he  was  haunted  by  the 
Furies,  and  would  spout  Greek  verses  on  the  guilt  and 
the  torture  of  parricides.  Some  evil  deity  seemed  to 
have  created  him  in  jest,  in  order  to  entertain  himself 
with  the  horrid  masquerade  of  a  human  creature  in 
which  every  spring  should  creak,  —  the  hideous  spec- 
tacle of  an  epileptic  world,  like  what  we  might  im- 
agine of  a  riotous  dance  of  apes  on  the  Congo,  or  the 
bloody  orgies  of  a  king  of  cannibals. 

At  such  a  spectacle,  all  the  world  seemed  to  be  taken 
dizzy.  A  club  was  got  up  by  certain  detestable  bucks, 
called  "  the  Knights  of  Augustus,"  who  made  it  their 
business  to  cheer  all  the  emperor's  mad  pranks,  and 
contrive  for  him  farces  suited  to  night  prowlers  of  the 


I20  ANTICHRIST. 

streets.^  In  due  time,  we  shall  find  an  emperor  a 
graduate  of  tins  school.^  A  dirty  flood  of  ill-flavoured 
imaginations,  shallow  fancies,  jests  meant  for  comic,  a 
sickening  slang  like  that  in  our  cheapest  newspapers, 
discharged  itself  over  Rome  and  made  a  fashion  there.^ 
Caligula  had  already  invented  this  baleful  style  of 
imperial  stage-hero ;  and  Nero  ostentatiously  took  him 
for  a  model.*  It  was  not  enough  to  drive  chariots  in 
the  circus,  to  rasp  his  throat  as  a  public  singer,  and 
make  provincial  tours  on  the  operatic  stage :  ^  he  must 
exhibit  himself  fishing  with  golden  nets  drawn  in  by 
purple  cords  ;^  or  himself  placing  in  the  theatre  his 
cliques  to  lead  the  applause ;  or  assigning  to  himself 
all  the  prizes  of  the  old  Greek  games;  or  planning 
festivities  such  that  the  like  was  never  heard  of ;  or 
playing  upon  the  stage  in  parts  without  a  nameJ 

These  insane  freaks  were  in  great  part  due  to  the 
wretched  taste  of  the  time,  and  the  extravagant  rank 
assigned  to  the  declaimer's  art,  which  aimed  at  the 
prodigious,  and  revelled  in  monstrosities.^  In  a  word, 
there  was  everywhere  lack  of  sincerity  ;  a  style  without 
savour,  like  Seneca's  in  his  tragedies ;  capability  to 
paint  feelings  that  are  not  felt ;  the  art  of  talking  like 
a  man  of  virtue  without  being  one.  For  the  grand 
style  w^e  find  the  loud  and  big;  art  is  utterly  dispro- 

1  Pliny,  HisU  Nat.  xiii.  22:  43.  *  Suetonius,  Otho,  2. 

3  Tacitus,  Ann.  xiv.  14-16.  See  in  Suetonius  specimens  of  Nero's 
jests,  to  show  the  sort  of  pleasantry  he  affected.  Comp.  Tac.  Ann.  xiv. 
57;  Dion  Cass.  Ixii.  14;  Ixiii.  8. 

*  Suet.  Nero,  30. 

6  Tac.  Ann.  xv.  33,  34;  Suet.  Nero,  20,  22,  24,  25. 
®  Euseb.  Chron.  Ann.  6  of  Nero. 

7  Suet.  Nero,  11,  20,  21,  23-25,  27,  30;  Tac.  Ann.  xv.  37  et  seq. ;  Dion 
Cass.  Ixi.  17-21 ;  Ixii.  15. 

s  Juvenal,  Sat.  1.  ad.  init. ;  Martial,  Spectacula. 


CONFLAGRATION  OF  ROME,  121 

portioned ;  it  is  the  age  of  colossal  statues,  of  material- 
ising art,  theatrical,  falsely  pathetic,  of  which  we  have 
a  masterpiece  in  the  Laocoon^  —  an  admirable  statue, 
no  doubt,  but  in  posture  too  like  a  leading  tenor 
vociferating  a  solo,  all  the  real  emotion  being  from  the 
bodily  pain  it  shows.  People  were  no  longer  satisfied 
with  the  purely  moral  suffering  in  the  Children  of  Niobe, 
radiant  with  beauty ;  they  craved  an  image  of  physical 
agony,  and  took  delight  in  it,  as  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury enjoyed  the  realistic  sculpture  of  Puget.^  Capacity 
of  sensation  was  exhausted ;  the  essential  thing  in  Art 
had  come  to  be  such  coarse  devices  as  the  Greeks 
would  have  scarce  admitted  in  what  was  meant  only 
for  the  popular  eye.  The  people  were  literally  crazed 
with  spectacles,  —  not  serious  exhibitions,  or  ennobling 
tragedies,  but  sensational  plays  and  fantastic  shows. 
A  degraded  taste  for  "  living  pictures "  had  come  in 
vogue.  It  was  no  longer  enough  for  the  imagination 
to  enjoy  the  exquisite  creations  of  the  poets.  The  old 
myths  must  be  represented  "  in  the  flesh,"  whatever  might 
be  in  them  most  ferocious  or  obscene  ;  people  went  into 
ecstasy  before  the  actors'  attitudes  and  groups,  seeking 
in  them  the  effects  of  statuary.  The  shout  of  fifty 
thousand  spectators,  crowded  in  one  vast  bowl,  and 
mutually  heated,  was  so  intoxicating  a  thing  that  the 
sovereign  himself  would  envy  the  charioteer,  the  singer, 
or  the  actor;  the  glory  of  the  circus  or  the  theatre 

^  Without  pretending  to  decide  on  the  date  of  this  famous  group,  we 
may  note  that  about  this  time  it  came  to  be  regarded  as  a  masterpiece 
without  rival.  See  Pliny,  Hist.  Nat.  xxxvi.  5:4;  Overbeck,  Die  antiken 
Schriftquellen  zur  Gesch.  der  bild.  Kilnste,  391,  392;  H.  Brunn,  Gesch.  der 
griecJi.  KUnstler,  i.  469,  495  et  seq. 

2  Whose  most  famous  work  represented  the  athlete  Milo,  caught  in 
the  cleft  of  an  oak,  and  attacked  by  a  lion.  —  Ed. 


122  ANTICHRIST, 

was  the  most  glorious  of  all.  Not  one  of  the  emperors 
who  had  a  single  weak  spot  in  his  head  could  with- 
stand the  temptation  to  gather  wreaths  from  these 
lamentable  games.  Caligula  had  left  on  the  stage  the 
little  wit  he  ever  had,  and  would  pass  whole  days  in 
the  theatre  among  the  idlers;^  and  at  a  later  day 
Commodus  and  Caracalla  contested  with  Nero  the  palm 
of  insanity.  Laws  had  to  be  enacted  to  forbid  senators 
and  knights  entrance  upon  the  arena,  to  wrestle  like 
gladiators  or  fight  against  wild  beasts.  The  prize-ring 
came  to  be  the  centre  of  life,  —  as  if  the  rest  of  the 
world  were  made  only  to  furnish  forth  a  Roman  holi- 
day. New  devices  were  constantly  brought  forward, 
each  more  extravagant  than  the  last,  composed  and 
directed  by  the  imperial  conductor.  The  people  went 
from  one  festival  to  the  next ;  their  talk  was  only  of 
the  last  day's  spectacle,  while  waiting  for  the  one 
promised  them  to-day ;  ^  and  they  ended  with  a  sincere 
attachment  to  a  prince  who  made  their  life  an  endless 
bacchanal.  We  cannot  doubt  the  popularity  which  Nero 
won  by  these  shameful  means ;  it  is  proof  enough  that 
after  his  death  Otho  could  gain  the  sovereignty  by 
reviving  Nero's  memory,  by  imitating  him,  and  by  re- 
minding men  that  he  too  had  been  one  of  the  exquisites 
of  his  company. 

It  cannot  be  said,  in  strictness,  that  the  poor  wretch 
was  void  of  heart,  or  of  all  feeling  for  the  good  and 
beautiful.  Far  from  being  incapable  of  kindliness,  he 
would  often  show  himself  "a  good  fellow ; "  and  it  was 
just  this  that  made  him  cruel,  for  he  craved  to  be 

1  Suet.  Cams,  18. 

2  See  Martial's  "Epigrams,"  especially  the  Liher  de  Spectaculis,  which 
at  some  points  may  be  likened  to  our  cheap  newspapers. 


CONFLAGRATION  OF  ROME.  123 

loved  and  admired  for  his  own  sake,  and  was  angry 
with  those  who  did  not  feel  so  towards  him.  His 
nature  was  jealous,  sensitive,  and  an  act  of  petty 
treason  would  put  him  beside  himself.  His  deeds  of 
vengeance  were  mostly  —  as  with  Lucan  and  Vestinus 
—  against  those  admitted  to  his  nearer  circle,  who  had 
taken  advantage  of  the  familiarity  he  encouraged  to 
tease  him  with  their  wit;  for  he  had  a  sense  of  his 
own  absurdities,  and  was  afraid  of  letting  them  be 
seen.  His  chief  ground  of  hating  Thraseas  was  that 
he  could  not  win  his  love,^  and  Lucan's  grotesque 
citation  of  a  bad  half  line  was  his  destruction.^  With- 
out ever  denying  himself  the  services  of  one  Galvia 
Crispinilla,^  he  was  really  fond  of  several  women; 
and  these  women  —  Poppaea,  Acte  —  loved  him.  After 
Poppaea's  death,  brought  about  by  his  brutality,  he  had 
a  sort  of  sensual  remorse  almost  pathetic :  he  was  long 
under  the  dominion  of  a  tender  sentiment,  and  sought 
for  anything  that  resembled  her,  hunting  even  for  inani- 
mate substitutes.*  Poppsea,  on  her  part,  had  a  regard 
for  him  which  so  distinguished  a  woman  would  not 
have  confessed  for,  an  ordinary  man.  A  lady  of  the 
court,  in  the  highest  society,  skilled  in  enhancing  the 
attractions  of  rare  beauty  and  supreme  elegance  ^  by 
the  arts  of  a  studied  modesty,  she  kept  in  her  heart 
through  all  her  crimes  a  religious  instinct  which  inclined 

^  "  I  wish  Thraseas  [whom  he  put  to  death  a  little  after]  was  but  as 
great  a  lover  of  me  as  he  is  a  most  upright  judge."  Plutarch's  "  Political 
Precepts,"  in  his  Morals  (Engl,  transl.  v.  123).  Comp.  Tac.  Ann.  xv. 
68;  xvi.  22;  Dion  Cass.  Ixii.  26. 

^  Suet.,  fragm.  of  Lucani  vita:  '*  Sub  terris  tonuisse putes.''* 

*  Magistra  lihidinum ;  Tac.  Hist.  i.  78 ;  comp.  Dion  Cass.  Ixiii.  12. 

*  Dion  Cass.  Ixii.  28;  Ixiii.  12,  13;  Plin.  xxxvii.  3:  12. 

5  Tac.  Ann.  xiii.  45.  See  her  bust  in  the  Capitol  (Xo.  17)  and  that  in 
the  Vatican  (Xo.  408). 


124  ANTICHRIST, 

her  toward  Judaism.^  Among  women,  Nero  seems  to 
have  been  very  susceptible  to  a  charm  that  comes  from 
a  certain  mingling  of  piety  and  coquetry.  Those  alter- 
nations of  freedom  in  manner  with  a  proud  reserve,  — 
that  way  of  never  going  abroad  except  with  face 
partly  veiled  (ne  mtiaret  adspectum,  vel  quia  sic  decebat),  — 
her  winning  speech,  above  all,  that  touching  regard 
for  her  own  beauty,  such  that  when  once  her  mirror 
showed  her  a  few  specks  she  fell  into  a  womanish  fit 
of  desperation,  and  wished  to  die,^  —  all  this  strongly 
impressed  the  fancy  of  the  young  debauchee,  on  whom 
the  show  of  modesty  had  the  force  of  a  mighty  illu- 
sion. We  shall  soon  see  how  Nero,  playing  his  part 
as  Antichrist,  created,  as  it  were,  a  new  artistic 
sense,  and  was  the  first  to  gloat  over  the  spectacle  of 
Christian  maiden  modesty  unveiled.  Poppaea,  at  once 
voluptuous  and  devout,  held  him  in  a  mood  of  like 
emotions.  The  conjugal  reproach  which  caused  her 
death  ^  seems  to  show  that  even  in  her  closer  relations 
with  Nero  she  never  quite  lost  a  certain  pride  which 
was  manifest  in  their  first  intimacy.*  As  for  Acte,  if 
she  was  not  a  Christian,  as  has  been  thought,  at  least 
she  was  not  far  from  being  one.  She  was  a  slave  of 
Asiatic  birth,  —  that  is,  from  a  country  with  which 
the  Christians  at  Rome  had  daily  intercourse.  It  has 
often  been  observed  that   the   handsome  freedwomen 

^  Josephus  (Antiq.  xx.  8:  11)  says  that  she  was  "pious"  (Beoa-f^fjs); 
cf-  Life,  3.  What  Tacitus  (Ann.  xvi.  6;  Hist.  v.  5)  says  of  her  funeral 
wholly  conforms  to  this  (comp.  Pliny,  xii.  18:  41);  and  he  notes  her  incli- 
nation to  diviners  (Hist.  i.  22). 

2  Dion  Cass.  Ixii.  28. 

'  Suet.  Nero,  35.  "She  reproached  him  for  returning  late  from  his 
charioteering." 

*  Tac.  Ann.  xiii.  46. 


CONFLAGRATION  OF  ROME,  125 

who  had  most  admirers  were  much  given  to  Oriental 
religions ;  while  Ovid,  Propertius,  and  the  pictures  at 
Pompeii  show  how  much  the  Iris-worship  was  in 
fashion  in  that  social  class.  Acte  always  kept  her 
simple  tastes,  and  never  quite  withdrew  herself  from 
the  little  slave-circle  she  had  belonged  to.^  She  first 
made  part  of  the  Annsean  family,  about  which  we  have 
seen  the  Christians  group  and  gather;  and  under  the 
influence  of  Seneca  she  played,  in  the  most  appalling 
and  tragic  circumstances,  a  part  which,  slave  as  she 
was,  we  can  call  by  no  other  name  than  honourable.'^ 
This  poor  child,^  humble,  gentle,  shown  on  many  monu- 
ments as  surrounded  by  a  group  of  people  bearing 
names  almost  Christian,  —  Claudia,  Felicula,  Stephanus, 
Crescens,  Plioebe,  Onesimus,  Thallus,  Artemas,  Helpis,* 
—  was  the  first  love  of  Nero  when  a  youth.  She  was 
faithful  to  him  till  death ;  and  we  shall  see  her  again 
at  Phaon's  villa,  piously  discharging  the  last  duties  to 
that  poor  corpse  from  which  all  else  shrank  in  horror. 

And,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  it  is  yet  conceivable 
that  women  may  have  loved  him.  He  was,  if  you 
will,  a  monster,  a  creature  of  absurdities,  ill  made-up, 
a  misshapen  product  of  nature ;  but  he  was  not  a 
vulgar  monster.  One  might  say  that  destiny,  by  an 
odd  caprice,  had  chosen  to  realise  in  him  that  monster 
figured  by  the  logicians  as  the  "goat-stag,"  —  a  being 
of  two  natures,  queer,  incoherent,  generally  hateful,  but 
in  some  moods  pitiable.  An  emotional  woman  will  be 
governed  more  by  sympathy  and  personal  liking  than 
by  strict  rules  of   moral   judgment ;  a  trifle  of  good 

1  Tac.  Ann.  xiii.  46.  2  m^^  13.  ^iv.  2. 

8  Ihid.  xiii.  12,  13,  46;  Suet.  Nero,  28;  Dion  Cass.  Ixi.  7. 

*  Fabretti,  Inscr.  124-126;  Orelli,  735,  2885;  Henzen,  5412,  5413. 


126  ANTICHRIST, 

looks,  with  good-nature  ever  so  violently  distorted,  v^ill 
be  enough  to  turn  her  indignation  into  pity.  She  is, 
above  all,  indulgent  toward  an  artist  intoxicated  by 
his  art,  a  Byron,  slave  to  his  fancy,  who  frankly  puts 
in  practice  his  poetic  creed.  When  Acte  laid  Nero's 
bloody  corpse  in  the  tomb  of  the  Domitii,  she  doubt- 
less wept  over  the  profaning  of  natural  gifts  known 
to  her  alone ;  and  at  the  same  hour,  as  we  may  believe, 
more  than  one  Christian  woman  named  him  in  her 
prayers. 

Though  of  inferior  talent,  he  had  some  of  an  artist's 
gifts :  he  carved  and  painted  well ;  his  verses  were 
good,  spite  of  a  certain  schoolboy  emphasis,^  and,  what- 
ever may  have  been  said,  the  verses  were  his  own,  — 
Suetonius  saw  his  autograph  drafts  of  them,  filled 
with  erasures.^  He  was  the  first  to  discover  the  superb 
landscape  of  Subiaco,  and  made  himself  a  charming 
summer-retreat  there.  His  understanding  was  clear 
and  keen  in  the  observation  of  natural  objects ;  he  had 
a  fondness  for  experiments,  new  inventions,  and  works 
of  ingenuity ;  ^  he  wished  to  understand  the  causes  of 
things,  and  detected  very  shrewdly  the  tricks  of  pre- 
tended magic,  as  well  as  the  hollo wness  of  the  religions 
of  the  day.*  The  biographer  just  cited  has  told  how 
the  passion  for  a  singer's  vocation  was  roused  in  him.^ 
He  owed  his  instruction  to  Terpnos,  the  most  famous 
harpist  of  his  time.  He  was  seen  passing  whole  nights 
by  the  music-master's  side,  studying  his  manner,  ab- 
sorbed ^in  listening,  panting  in  suspense,  intoxicated, 

1  Suet.  Lucan.  2  g^et.  Nero,  52. 

»  Seneca.  Qucest,  nat.  vi.  8;  Pliny,  xi.  49:  109 ;  xix.  3;  15 ;  xxxvii.  3:  11. 

*  Suet.  Nero,  56;  Pliny,  xxx.  2:  5;  Pausanias,  ii.  37:  5. 

^  Suet.  Nero,  20. 


CONFLAGRATION  OF  ROME.  127 

eagerly  inhaling  the  air  of  that  new  world  open  to 
him  at  the  touch  of  a  great  artist.  This,  too,  was  the 
source  of  his  disgust  for  the  Romans,  who  were  in 
general  poor  judges  in  matters  of  art ;  and  of  his 
liking  for  the  Greeks,  whom  alone  he  thought  com- 
petent to  appreciate  him,  and  for  the  Orientals,  who 
would  split  their  throats  in  loud  applause.  From  this 
time  forth  the  only  glory  he  would  admit  was  the 
glory  of  an  artist.  A  new  life  woke  in  him.  His 
rank  as  emperor  he  no  longer  thought  of ;  to  deny  his 
genius  was  high  treason ;  the  enemies  of  Home  were 
those  who  did  not  join  in  the  applause. 

His  affectation  of  being  master  of  fashion  in  every- 
thing was  certainly  ridiculous ;  still,  we  must  own 
there  was  more  state-policy  in  it  than  we  might  think. 
The  emperor's  first  duty  —  such  was  the  baseness  of 
the  time  —  was  to  amuse  the  people.  Above  all  else  the 
sovereign  must  be  a  great  organizer  of  festivals;  the 
head  entertainer  must  be  brought  to  pay  his  debt  in 
person  —  as  we  see  by  the  complaints  made  against 
Galba.^  Many  of  the  extravagances  charged  against 
Nero  were  blamable  only  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
old  Roman  manners  and  the  strict  code  of  deportment 
that  had  hitherto  prevailed.  That  masculine  society 
was  offended  at  seeing  the  emperor  in  an  embroidered 
dressing-gown  at  an  audience  of  the  senate ;  or  in 
scandalous  undress  at  a  military  review,  without  a  belt, 
and  with  a  muffler  about  his  neck  to  protect  his  voice.^ 
True  Romans  were  justly  indignant  at  the  invasion  of 
Oriental  fashions ;  but,  inevitably,  the  older  and  more 
outworn    civilisation    prevailed   over   the  younger   in 

1  Suet.  Galha,  12,  13. 

2  Dion  Cass.  Ixxiii.  13,  20,  25 ;  Suet.  Nero,  51. 


128  ANTICHRIST, 

virtue  of  its  very  corruption.  Antony  and  Cleopatra  ^ 
had  dreamed  long  ago  of  an  Oriental  empire;  Nero 
himself^  had  listened  to  hints  of  a  royalty  like  that, 
and,  when  driven  to  bay,  his  thought  was  to  apply  for 
the  governorship  of  Egypt.  Every  year,  from  Augustus 
to  Constantine,  shows  us  some  new  step  of  advance  in 
the  conquest  of  the  Latin  by  the  Greek. 

We  must  remember,  too,  that  insanity  was  "  in  the 
air."  If  we  except  that  admirable  core  of  aristocratic 
society  which  came  to  the  throne  with  Nerva  and 
Trajan,  the  ablest  men  made,  as  it  were,  a  game  of 
life  —  such  levity  was  in  the  general  mind.  The  one 
who  represents  and  sums  up  the  quality  of  the  time 
—  the  "honest  man"  in  this  reign  of  transcendent 
iniquity  —  is  Petronius.^  He  gave  the  day  to  sleep, 
the  night  to  business  and  amusement.  He  was  not 
one  of  those  fast-livers  who  ruin  themselves  in  vulgar 
debauchery,  but  a  voluptuary  thoroughly  versed  in  the 
science  of  pleasure.  The  natural  ease  and  free  play  of 
his  speech  and  acts  gave  him  a  most  winning  air  of 
frankness.  While  proconsul  in  Bithynia,  and  afterward 
as  consul,  he  showed  the  finest  talent  of  administration. 
When  he  returned  to  vice,  or  the  affected  display  of  it, 
he  found  his  way  to  the  inmost  circle  of  Nero's  court, 
and  came  to  be  sovereign  judge  of  taste,  —  arbiter 
elegantiarum ;  nothing  was  delightful  or  in  good  form 
without  his  verdict.  The  base  Tigellinus,  who  ruled 
by  depravity  and  malice,  dreaded  a  rival,  his  own 
superior  in  the  arts  of  pleasure,  and  succeeded  in 
destroying  him.  Petronius  had  too  high  self-respect 
to  contend  with  this  despicable  wretch ;  but  still  he 

1  Horace,  Od.  i.  37.  ^  guet.  40;  Tac.  Ann.  xv.  36. 

«  Tac.  xvi.  18-20. 


CONFLAGRATION  OF  ROME.  129 

would  not  quit  life  too  abruptly.  After  opening  his 
own  veins  he  closed  them  again ;  then  opened  them 
anew,  chatting  of  trifles  with  his  friends  and  listening 
to  their  talk  —  not  on  the  immortality  of  the  soul  and 
philosophic  theories,  but  of  songs  and  ballads ;  taking 
just  that  time  to  reward  certain  of  his  slaves  and 
chastise  others ;  and  so,  reclining  at  his  table,  he  fell 
asleep.  This  all-accomplished  sceptic,  of  cool  and  pol- 
ished style,  is  the  probable  author  of  a  romance  (the 
Satf/ncon)  of  wonderful  spirit  and  point,  and  at  the 
same  time  of  a  refined  dissoluteness,  which  makes  a 
perfect  mirror  of  Nero's  time.  Not  every  one  who  will 
can  be  king  of  fashion.  There  is  a  mastery  in  the 
elegances  of  life,  below  the  realm  of  science  or  morality. 
The  banquet  of  the  universe  would  lack  completeness 
if  tlie  world  were  full  only  of  fanatics,  iconoclasts,  and 
virtuous  heavyweights. 

It  may  not  be  denied  that  the  taste  for  art  was  keen 
and  sincere  among  the  men  of  this  evil  time.  Few 
things  of  beauty  were  now  made,  but  the  finest  of  elder 
time  were  eagerly  sought.  Petronius,  an  hour  before  he 
died,  broke  in  pieces  a  murrine  vase,  that  Nero  might 
not  own  it.^  Objects  of  art  were  held  at  fabulous 
prices ;  Nero  was  madly  fond  of  them.^  Ravished  by 
the  idea  of  grandeur,  but  with  the  worst  judgment 
possible,  he  schemed  fantastic  palaces,  and  vast  cities 
like  Babylon,  Thebes,  or  Memphis.  The  imperial 
dwelling  on  the  Palatine  —  the  old  house  of  Tiberius  — 
had  been  quite  a  modest  one,  essentially  a  private 
house  till  the  reign  of  Caligula,  as  we  find  in  recent 
excavations.  Caligula,  who  is  to  be  regarded  as  the 
founder  of  a  school  in  government  in  which  Nero  has 

1  Pliny,  xxxvii.  2:7.  2  guet.  Nero,  47. 

9 


ISO  ANTICHRIST, 

been  too  easily  held  to  have  no  master,  considerably  en- 
larged it ;  ^  and  Nero,  affecting  to  find  himself  crowded 
in  it,  jested  without  stint  at  his  predecessors  who  had 
been  content  with  so  narrow  quarters.  He  accordingly 
blocked  out  in  cheap  materials  a  residence  as  big  as  a 
Chinese  or  Assyrian  palace,  calling  it  a  "  transitional " 
structure,  which  he  intended  soon  to  make  permanent. 
It  was  a  whole  world  in  itself.  With  porches  three 
miles  long,  parks  that  made  a  pasturage  for  flocks, 
enclosures  fenced  in  for  solitude,  lakes  amid  a  perspec- 
tive of  fantastic  towns,  with  vineyards  and  forests,  it 
covered  a  space  vaster  than  the  Louvre,  Tuileries,  and 
Champs-Elysees  put  together,^  reaching  from  the  Pala- 
tine to  the  gardens  of  Maecenas  on  the  summit  of  the 
Esquiline,  near  where  is  now  the  church  of  St.  Euse- 
bius.  It  was  a  real  fairy-land,  in  which  the  engineers, 
Severus  and  Celer,  had  surpassed  themselves.  Nero 
wished  to  carry  out  his  plan  in  such  fashion  that  it 
should  be  called  the  "  Golden  House."  He  was  amused 
by  talk  of  insane  undertakings  that  should  make  his 
name  immortal.^  Above  all,  his  mind  was  filled  with 
schemes  about  Rome,  which  he  wished  to  rebuild  from 
bottom  to  top,  and  have  it  called  Neropolis. 

Rome,  for  a  century  past,  was  coming  to  be  the 
wonder  of  the  world,  equalling  in  grandeur  the  ancient 
capitals  of  the  East.  Its  edifices  were  solid,  strong, 
and  handsome ;  but  the  streets  looked  mean  to  people 
of  fashion,  for  the  rage  was  every  day  more  and  more 
for  structures  essentially  vulgar,  built  for  ornament, 

1  Suet.  Caius,  22. 

2  Suet.  Nero,  31;  Tac.  Ann,  xv.  39,  42;  Pliny,  xxxiii.  3:  16;  xxxvi. 
15:  24. 

8  Suet.  16,  31 ;  Tac.  xv.  42,  46 ;  Pliny,  iv.  4 :  5;  xv.  6:  8. 


CONFLAGRATION  OF  ROME. 


131 


aiming  at  general  effect,  such  as  delights  a  cockney's 
eye,  and  hunting  up  a  thousand  petty  fancies  unknown 
to  the  ancient  Greeks.  Nero  was  the  leader  of  this 
fashion.  The  Rome  of  his  imagination  was  something 
like  our  new  Paris,  —  an  artificial  city,  built  to  order 
of  the  higher  powers,  aiming  in  its  plan  to  catch  the 
admiring  eye  of  strangers  and  provincials.  The  young 
madcap  intoxicated  himself  with  these  tasteless  and 
unsound  plans.  He  longed,  too,  for  the  sight  of  some- 
thing strange,  —  some  great  showy  spectacle,  worthy  of 
an  artist ;  something  that  would  stand  as  a  monument 
to  mark  the  era  of  his  reign.  "Till  my  day,"  he 
would  say,  "  no  one  knew  on  what  a  scale  a  prince  can 
work."  ^  All  these  inward  promptings  of  a  disordered 
fancy  seemed  to  take  form  in  an  astounding  event 
which  had  momentous  consequences  affecting  the 
subject  of  our  story. 

The  incendiary  mania  is  contagious,  and  is  often  on 
the  verge  of  a  true  insanity ;  and  hence  there  is  great 
peril  in  waking  it  in  weak  brains  where  it  may  be 
slumbering.  It  was  characteristic  of  Nero  that  he 
could  not  resist  a  fixed  idea,  however  criminal.  The 
Burning  of  Troy  —  a  game  he  used  to  play  in  child- 
hood'~ —  took  complete  and  terrible  possession  of  his 
fancy .^  One  of  the  pieces  represented  in  one  of  his 
festivals  was  the  Conjlagraiion  of  Afranius,  in  which  an 
outburst  of  flame  was  exhibited  on  the  stage.*     In  one 

1  Suet.  Nero,  37. 

2  Such  games  were  much  in  fashion  at  the  time.  See  Dion  Cassius, 
xlviii.  20;  liv.  26;  Suet.  Jul.  39;  Aug.  43;  Tih.  6;  Caius,  18;  Claudius, 
21;  Nero,  7;  Servius,  ad  JSn.  v.  602;  Persius,  i.  4,  51. 

8  Suet.  Nero,  7,  11,  22,  47;  Tac.  Ann.  xv.  39;  Dion  Cass.  Ixii.  16, 
18,  29. 

4  Suet.  Nero,  11. 


132  ANTICHRIST, 

of  his  fits  of  self-willed  fury  against  fortune,  Nero  cried 
out,  ^^0  happy  Priam,  who  could  see  with  his  own 
eyes  the  destruction  of  his  empire  and  his  capital  city 
both  at  once  !  "  ^  On  another  occasion,  hearing  recited 
a  Greek  verse  from  the  Bellerophon  of  Euripides,  to  this 
effect : 

*'When  I  am  dead  let  earth  and  fire  mingle!" 

''  No,  not  that,"  said  he,  "  but  while  I  am  alive  !  "  ^ 
It  is  no  doubt  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  Nero  set  fire 
to  Rome  purely  to  have  a  repetition  of  the  Burning  of 
Troy ;  ^  for,  as  will  appear,  he  was  away  from  the  city 
when  the  fire  broke  out.  Still,  the  tradition  is  not  with- 
out ground ;  for  that  demon  of  corrupt  drama,  which 
had  laid  hold  upon  him,  was  —  as  with  scoundrels  of 
every  time  —  a  principal  agent  in  the  shocking  crime. 

On  the  nineteenth  of  July,  A.  D.  64,  a  fire  broke  out 
at  Rome  with  extraordinary  violence,^  beginning  near 
the  Porta  Capena,  in  that  part  of  the  Circus  Maximus  near 
mounts  Palatine  and  Coelius.  This  district  contained 
numerous  shops  full  of  combustible  matters,  in  which 
the  flames  spread  with  prodigious  rapidity.  Thence  it 
swept  round  the  Palatine,   devastated  the  Yelabrum^ 

1  Dion  Cass.  Iviii.  23;  Ixii.  16. 

2  Suet.  38 ;  Dion  Cass.  Iviii.  23. 

8  Euseb.  Chron.  Ann.  65;  Orosius,  vii.  7.  The  saying  reported  by 
Dion  Cassius  (Ixii.  16)  was  spoken,  no  doubt,  in  a  rolling  volley  of 
literary  paradoxes,  and  should  not  be  too  strictly  taken.  Conversations 
among  bright  wits,  reported  by  servants  or  dull  people  listening  at  the 
keyhole,  may  undergo  strange  transformations. 

4  Tac.  Ann.  xv.  38-44,  52;  Suet.  Ne.ro,  31,  38,  39;  Vesp.  8;  Dion  Cass. 
Ixii.  16-18;  Pliny,  xvii.  1:1;  Euseb.  Chron.  Ann.  65;  Orelli,  Imcr.  736, 
which  seems  quite  genuine.  Sulp.  Severus  (ii.  29)  closely  follows  Tacitus ; 
Orosius  (vii.  7)  chiefly  Suetonius. 

6  The  Temple  of  Hercules,  spoken  of  by  Tacitus  {Ann.  xv.  41),  was 
on  the  site  of  the  present  church  of  St.  Anastasius  ;  the  Regia  and  temple 
of  Vesta  were  also  at  the  foot  of  the  Palatine. 


CONFLAGRATION  OF  ROME,  133 

the  Forum,  and  the  Carhice  (the  consular  quarter  spoken 
of  by  Suetonius).  It  then  ran  over  the  hills,  did  great 
damage  on  the  Palatine,^  and  went  down  into  the 
hollows,  where  it  fed  for  six  days  and  seven  nights 
upon  the  close-packed  quarters  pierced  by  crooked 
lanes.  A  vast  mass  of  stone  buildings  at  the  foot  of 
the  Esquiline  (at  the  foot  of  the  present  street  St.  John 
Lateran)  checked  the  conflagration  for  a  while ;  then 
it  rekindled  and  lasted  three  days  more.  Many  of  the 
population  perished.  Of  the  fourteen  "regions"  com- 
posing the  city,  three  were  wholly  destroyed,  seven 
others  were  reduced  to  blackened  ruins.  Rome  was 
a  city  prodigiously  close-built,  with  a  population  ex- 
tremely dense :  we  may  compare  it  to  certain  districts 
of  Naples,  where  the  poor  live  in  the  open  air  and 
only  go  indoors  to  sleep,  eight  or  ten  in  a  room.  The 
disaster  was  frightful,  such  as  had  never  before  been 
seen. 

Nero  was  at  Antium  when  the  fire  broke  out,  and 
did  not  return  to  the  city  till  it  came  near  his  tempo- 
rary palace.  It  was  impossible  to  do  anything  to  stay 
the  flames.  The  imperial  houses  of  the  Palatine,  the 
*'  transitional "  house  itself,  with  the  outlying  buildings 
and  the  entire  quarter  thereabout,  were  buried  under 
the  ruins.^  Nero  evidently  made  no  great  effort  to 
save  his  own  dwelling.  He  was  transported  with  the 
sublime  horror  of  the  spectacle.  It  was  afterwards 
said  that,   mounted   upon  a  tower,  he  gazed   at   the 

1  Tac.  Ann.  xv.  39,  41;  Dion  Cass.  Ixii.  18.  The  temple  of  Jupiter 
Stator  was  on  the  Palatine.  The  fire  probably  caught  upon  the  hill  by 
the  strip  (a  sort  of  isthmus)  which,  near  the  Arch  of  Titus,  joins  the 
Palatine  level  with  the  Summa  Sacra  Via. 

'^  For  the  extent  of  the  conflagration  see  Noel  des  Vergers,  art.  JVero, 
in  JNouvelle  hiogr.  generate,  xxxvii.  728-730. 


134  ANTICHRIST. 

conflagration;  and  that  here,  in  stage  costume,  lyre 
in  hand,  he  sang  the  destruction  of  Troy,  in  the 
impressive  measure  of  the  antique  elegy .^ 

That  was  a  legend,  which  grew  out  of  a  series  of 
exaggerated  rumours  of  the  time.  But  a  universal 
belief,  from  the  very  first,  held  that  the  conflagration 
had  been  ordered  by  Nero,  or  at  all  events  started  by 
him  afresh  when  it  was  just  dying  out.^     Persons  of 

1  The  story,  as  told  by  Tacitus  (xv.  39),  says  nothing  of  this  circum- 
stance, while  he  speaks,  it  is  true,  of  a  rumour  that  Nero  during  the  fire 
sang  the  ruin  of  Troy  "in  his  private  theatre."  This,  if  true,  could  only 
have  been  at  Antium  —  which  greatly  hurts  the  story.  Tacitus  evidently 
mentions  the  report  without  believing  it.  The  accounts  of  Suetonius  and 
Dion  Cassius  do  not  agree  in  details :  one  puts  the  scene  on  the  Esquiline, 
the  other  on  the  Palatine.  The  incident  was  derived,  no  doubt,  from  the 
poem  called  Troica,  composed  by  Nero,  and  publicly  recited  by  him  the 
next  year,  which  carried  a  double  meaning  like  Lucan's  Catacausmos 
Iliacus,  written  about  this  time  (Dion  Cass.  Ixii.  29;  Servius,  ad  ^n. 
V.  370;  Georg.  iii.  36;  Persius,  i.  123;  Statins,  Silv.  ii.  7:  58-61;  Juv. 
viii.  221 ;  Petronius,  p.  105).  The  scandal  of  such  allusions  struck  the 
public,  and  caused  it  to  be  said  that  "  Nero  played  the  lyre  over  the  ruins 
of  his  country."  (The  expression  patrice  ruinis  is  in  Tac.  xv.  42.)  Thus 
the  phrase  became  an  anecdote,  and  —  as  a  legend  commonly  grows  from 
a  true  saying  and  a  right  feeling,  converted  into  fact  with  some  violence 
done  to  time  and  place  —  the  song  Troica  was  referred  to  the  time  of  the 
catastrophe.  The  story  was  a  hard  one  for  those  who  like  Tacitus  knew 
that  Nero  was  then  at  Antium,  and  thus,  to  make  it  more  consistent, 
they  assumed  it  to  be  "  in  his  private  theatre  ;  "  while  those  who  did  not 
know  that  he  was  at  Antium  through  the  greater  part  of  the  burning 
carried  the  tale  to  Rome,  each  choosing  the  most  effective  spot.  What  is 
now  shown  as  the  so-called  torre  di  Nerone  dates  from  the  Middle  Age. 

2  Suetonius  {Nero,  38),  Dion  Cassius  (Ixxii.  16),  and  Pliny  (xvii.  1:  1), 
state  this  positively ;  Tacitus  (xv.  38)  expresses  no  opinion,  but  farther 
on  (xv.  67)  says  that  "the  conflagration  "  was  charged  to  Nero  as  a  noto- 
rious crime.  In  his  last  days,  says  Suetonius  {Nero,  43).  he  wished  to 
burn  Rome  again.  In  such  reports,  no  doubt,  something  is  to  be  allowed 
to  popular  gossip  or  ill-will.  What  makes  the  charge  a  grave  one  is 
that  it  is  hard  to  see  how  so  enormous  a  fire  could  have  made  headway 
in  a  city  like  Rome,  mostly  built  of  stone,  without  some  outside  help. 
An  inscription  of  Orelli,  No.  736,  shows  the  exceptional  character  of  the 
conflagration.  The  great  fires  in  the  times  of  Titus  and  Commodus  were 
nothing  like  it. 


CONFLAGRATION  OF  ROME.  135 

Nero's  household  were  thought  to  have  been  seen 
setting  fire  at  various  spots ;  in  some  localities  these 
were  men  pretending  to  be  drunk,  and  it  seemed  to 
spring  up  of  itself  in  many  places  at  once.  Tales  were 
told  of  men  having  been  seen  while  it  was  burning  — 
soldiers  and  watchmen  appointed  to  extinguish  it  — 
who  would  put  the  brands  together  for  fresh  burning, 
and  hinder  the  efforts  made  to  confine  the  flames ;  and 
this  with  a  threatening  mien,  as  if  they  were  set  to 
execute  official  orders.  Possibly  they  were  criminals, 
who  made  things  worse  in  the  hope  of  plunder.  Great 
stone  structures  near  the  emperor's  palace,  where  he 
wanted  more  ground,  were  demolished  as  in  a  time 
of  siege  or  assault ;  and,  where  the  fire  started  afresh, 
it  began  with  buildings  that  belonged  to  Tigellinus. 
Suspicion  was  further  strengthened  by  the  fact  that, 
when  the  fire  was  over,  under  pretence  of  clearing  off 
the  ruins  at  his  own  expense,  to  leave  the  ground  free  to 
its  owners,  Nero  undertook  to  carry  away  the  rubbish, 
so  effectively  that  no  one  was  allowed  to  go  near.  It 
was  still  worse  when  they  saw  him  making  a  handsome 
profit  from  the  general  disaster ;  when  they  saw  the 
new  palace,  Nero's  "  Golden  House,"  long  the  plaything 
of  his  insane  fancy,  rising  on  the  site  of  his  old  "  tran- 
sitional" residence,  widened  out  by  spaces  which  the 
conflagration  had  swept  clean.'^  He  had  designed,  they 
thought,  to  clear  the  ground  for  this  new  palace,  to 
make  an  excuse  for  the  reconstruction  he  had  long  set 
his  heart  on,  and  to  secure  funds  for  it  by  seizing  on 
the  ruins  of  the  conflagration ;  in  short,  to  satiate  that 
crazy  vanity  which  made  him  long  for  a  new  Kome  to 
build,  that  it  might  date  from  him  and  bear  his  name. 

1  Suet.  Nero,  31,  38. 


136  ANTICHRIST. 

Everything  goes  to  show  that  this  was  no  calumny. 
The  true  thing  about  Nero  is  hardly  ever  the  likely 
thing.  Needless  to  say  that,  with  all  the  resources  of 
his  power,  there  were  simpler  ways  to  get  the  ground 
he  wanted  than  to  burn  it  clean.  The  emperor's 
power,  looked  at  one  way,  might  seem  boundless ;  but 
in  another  direction  it  quickly  found  its  limits,  when 
it  ran  against  the  habits  or  prejudices  of  a  people 
excessively  conservative  of  its  religious  landmarks. 
Kome  was  full  of  sanctuaries,  holy  places,  shrines, 
buildings,  which  no  statute  of  conveyance  could  pos- 
sibly put  out  of  sight.  The  mighty  Julius,  and  other 
emperors  besides,  had  found  their  plans  of  public  im- 
provement, especially  as  to  rectifying  the  channel  of 
the  Tiber,  crossed  by  this  hindrance.  To  carry  out  his 
mad  schemes,  a  conflagration  furnished  the  only  means 
Nero  could  employ.  The  condition  of  things  was  like 
that  in  Constantinople  and  other  great  Moslem  towns, 
where  improvements  are  cut  short  by  mosques  and 
clerical  edicts.  In  the  East,  conflagration  is  but  a 
weak  expedient ;  since,  after  it  is  over,  the  soil  itself 
remains  sacred  as  a  sort  of  inalienable  patrimony  of 
true  believers.  But  at  Eome,  where  sanctity  belonged 
to  the  building,  not  the  ground,  the  course  taken 
proved  effectual.  A  new  Eome,  with  straight  wide 
streets,  was  soon  rebuilt  on  the  emperor's  plans,  helped 
out  by  the  bounties  which  he  offered. 

It  was  an  insult  to  every  honest  man  in  the  city. 
The  choicest  antiquities  of  Rome,  houses  that  had 
belonged  to  famous  captains  of  old,  still  decorated  with 
the  spoils  of  triumph,  objects  the  most  revered,  tro- 
phies, antique  votive  tablets,  temples  of  highest  sanc- 
tity, everything  visible  that  told  of  the  ancient  Roman 


CONFLAGRATION  OF  ROME.  137 

worship,  had  gone  out  of  siglit.  The  city  was,  as  it 
were,  clad  in  mourning  for  its  old  memories  and  sacred 
legends.  In  vain  would  Nero  relieve  at  his  own  charge 
the  miseries  he  had  caused ;  in  vain  point  out  that, 
taking  all  into  the  account,  it  was  a  mere  process  of 
cleansing  and  sanitation,  —  that  the  new  city  would 
be  far  better  than  the  old.  No  true  Roman  would 
believe  him.  All  for  whom  a  city  is  something  more 
than  a  pile  of  stones  were  cut  to  the  heart ;  a  blow 
was  struck  at  the  nation's  conscience.  This  temple, 
built  by  Evander  —  that  other,  by  Servius  Tullius  — 
here,  the  sacred  precinct  of  Jupiter  Stator  —  Numa*s 
palace,  the  religious  home  of  the  Roman  people  —  those 
monuments,  telling  of  so  many  victories ;  those  mas- 
terpieces of  Hellenic  art,  —  how  repair  the  loss  of  those  ? 
What,  in  comparison  with  them,  were  these  sumptuous 
displays,  these  vast  monumental  avenues,  these  endless 
architectural  straight  lines  ?  There  were  expiatory 
ceremonies  without  number ;  the  Sibylline  Books  were 
explored  for  oracles ;  ladies  of  rank  offered  many  a  pro- 
pitiatory sacrifice.  But  there  remained  the  secret  sense 
of  a  crime,  a  sacrilege  ;  and  Nero  began  to  discover 
that  he  had  gone  too  far. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    CHKISTIAN    MARTYRS. 

A  TRULY  infernal  thought  now  entered  the  heart  of 
Nero.  He  looked  the  world  over  to  see  whether  there 
were  not  somewhere  wretches  even  more  hateful  than 
he  to  the  towns-people  of  Rome,  on  whom  the  guilt  of 
the  conflagration  might  be  made  to  fall.  He  bethought 
him  of  the  Christians.  The  abhorrence  they  had  shown 
for  the  temples  and  edifices  most  venerated  by  the 
Romans  made  it  easy  to  think  of  them  as  the  authors 
of  a  calamity  that  had  swept  away  those  sanctuaries. 
Their  air  of  sadness  in  presence  of  these  monuments 
appeared  an  insult  to  the  nation.  Rome  was  a  very 
pious  city ;  and  one  who  condemned  its  worship  made 
himself  quickly  known.  We  have  to  remember  that 
some  Jewish  purists  went  so  far  that  they  would  not 
touch  a  coin  that  had  an  effigy,  and  deemed  it  as  great 
a  crime  to  look  upon  or  carry  a  graven  image  as  to 
sculpture  one ;  while  others  refused  to  pass  through  a 
city-gate  decorated  with  a  statue.-^  All  this  challenged 
the  popular  contumely  and  ill-will.  Perhaps  the  lan- 
guage of  Christians  about  the  final  conflagration,^  — 
their  gloomy  prophecies,  their  persistently  repeating 
that  the  world  would  soon  end,  and  end  by  fire, — helped 

^  Philosophumena,  ix.  26.     Non  Ccesaribus  honor :  Tac.  Hist.  v.  5. 
2  Comp.  Carm.  SihylL  iv.  172  (of  about  a.  d.  75);  2  Pet.  iii.  7-13. 


THE   CHRISTIAN  MARTYRS,  139 

make  them  likely  to  be  taken  for  incendiaries.  It  may 
even  be  granted  that  some  of  the  believers  had  rashly 
given  ground  for  the  charge  that  they  were  willing  to 
justify  their  oracles,  at  all  cost,  by  an  earthly  confla- 
gration that  should  serve  as  a  prelude  to  celestial 
flames.  What  propitiatory  act,  at  all  events,  could 
be  more  effective  than  that  these  enemies  of  the  gods 
should  perish  by  a  death  of  torture  ?  Gazing  on  their 
horrid  torments,  the  people  would  say,  "  Ah,  so  it  is : 
they  are  the  guilty  ones."  We  must  bear  in  mind  that 
public  opinion  held  the  most  hateful  deeds  charged 
against  them  to  be  things  fully  proved.^ 

Far  from  us  be  the  thought  that  the  pious  fol- 
lowers of  Jesus  were  in  any  manner  guilty  of  the 
charges  laid  against  them ;  let  us  only  admit  that 
general  opinion  might  be  misled  by  appearances. 
Though  they  did  not  kindle  the  flame,  unquestionably 
they  rejoiced  at  it.^  They  desired  the  existing  condi- 
tion of  things  to  be  at  an  end,  and  they  predicted  it. 
In  the  Apocalypse  ^  the  prayers  of  the  saints  bring  fire 
upon  the  earth,  with  earthquakes.  During  the  disaster 
the  attitude  of  the  Christians  must  have  seemed  equiv- 
ocal ;  some  of  them,  no  doubt,  failed  to  show  reverence 
or  sorrow  at  the  burning  of  a  temple,  or  perhaps  did 
not  hide  a  certain  satisfaction.  We  may  fancy  one  of 
their  conventicles  just  across  the  Tiber,  and  hearing 
them  say  to  one  another,  "  Is  not  that  just  what  we 
foretold  ? "  There  is  often  danger  in  being  too  true 
a  prophet.  "If  we  chose  to  avenge  ourselves,''  said 
Tertullian,  "one  night  and  a  few  torches  would  be 
enough."*     The  Jews  were  often  charged  with  being 

^  Tac.  Ann.  xv.  44.  2  Rev.  xviii. 

8  Ibid.  viii.  3-5.  *  Tertull.  Apol.  37. 


140  ;  ANTICHRIST. 

incendiaries  because  of  their  living  apart.-^  The  same 
crime  was  one  of  the  "  atrocities  clinging  to  the 
name/'  ^  which  went  into  the  definition  of  "  Christian." 

Accordingly,  without  being  in  the  least  guilty  of 
that  catastrophe,  the  Christians  might  be  held,  so  to 
speak,  as  "accomplices  in  will."  Within  four  years 
and  a  half,  we  shall  find  in  the  Apocalypse  an  anthem 
on  the  burning  of  Rome,  of  which  more  than  one 
feature  is  doubtless  borrowed  from  the  horrors  of 
this  summer.  The  destruction  of  Rome  by  fire  was, 
indeed,  a  Jewish  and  Christian  dream.  Still,  it  was 
only  a  dream.  These  pious  sectaries  were  unquestion- 
ably well  content  to  see  in  vision  the  saints  and 
angels  applauding  in  heaven  what  they  regarded  as  a 
righteous  judgment. 

It  is  hard  to  believe  that  the  idea  of  accusing  the 
Christians  of  the  July  conflagrations  came  of  itself  to 
Nero.  Doubtless,  if  he  had  known  these  good  brethren 
nearly,  he  would  have  heartily  hated  them.  Naturally, 
they  could  not  appreciate  his  merit  in  posing  thus  as 
a  leading  actor  in  front  of  the  stage  filled  by  the  high 
life  of  the  day;  and  what  particularly  enraged  Nero 
was  failure  to  recognize  his  talent  as  an  actor  of 
supreme  merit.  But  he  had,  no  doubt,  only  heard 
them  spoken  of ;  he  had  never  come  in  personal  touch 
with  them.  Who  could  have  suggested  the  execrable 
thought  ?  It  is  likely  that  suspicions  had  been  started 
in  more  than  one  section  of  the  city.^  The  sect,  by 
this  time,  was  well  known  in  the  official  world,  and 
was  much  talked  about.*    Paul,  as  we  have  seen,  had 

^  They  were  accused,  a.  d.  67,  of  trying  to  bum  Antioch  (Jos.  TFars, 
vii.  3:2-4). 

2  Pliny,  Epist.  X.  97.  «  Dion  Cass.  Ixii.  18. 

*  Tert.  Apol.  5. 


THE   CHRISTIAN  MARTYRS.  141 

friends  among  persons  belonging  to  the  service  of  the 
emperor's  palace.^  Among  the  promises  made  to  Nero 
by  certain  persons,  a  very  remarkable  one  was  that,  in 
case  he  were  deprived  of  the  empire,  he  would  hold 
dominion  in  the  East,  and  in  particular  the  kingdom 
of  Jerusalem.^  Messianic  ideas  among  the  Jews  at 
Kome  often  took  shape  as  vague  hopes  of  a  Roman 
empire  in  the  East ;  as  we  find  that  Vespasian  was 
afterwards  aided  by  these  fancies.^  From  the  accession 
of  Caligula  to  the  death  of  Nero,  Jewish  cabals  never 
ceased  at  Rome.'*  Jews  had  greatly  aided  in  bringing 
the  family  of  Germanicus  to  power  and  sustaining  it. 
Whether  through  the  Herods  or  other  intriguers,  they 
beset  the  palace,  often  to  the  ruin  of  their  enemies.'^ 
King  Agrippa  the  younger  had  been  very  influential 
under  Caligula  and  Claudius  ;  when  in  Rome,  he  played 
the  part  of  a  man  of  consequence.  Tiberius  Alexander, 
again,  held  very  high  positions ; '  while  Josephus  is 
rather  favourable  to  Nero,  whom  he  considers  to  have 
been  slandered,  ascribing  his  crimes  to  his  bad  sur- 
roundings. Poppaea,  according  to  him,  was  a  woman 
of  piety,  favourable  to  the  Jews,  supporting  the  claims 
of  their  zealots,  and  adopting  some  of  their  rites.  He 
knew  her  in  the  year  62  or  63,  got  from  her  the  pardon 
of  Jewish  priests  under  arrest,  and  retained  a  grateful 
recollection  of  herJ     We  find  a  touching  epitaph  of  a 

1  Phil.  iv.  22.  2  Suet.  40;  Tac.  xv.  36. 

8  Tac.  Hist.  i.  10;  v.  13;  Suet.  Vesp.  4;  Jos.  Wars,  iii.  3:  9;  Bab. 
Talm.  Gift  in,  56  a. 

*  Note  how  prominent  are  the  Jews  in  Martial,  Persius,  and  Juvenal ; 
especially  in  Persius,  v.  179  et  seq. 

^  Jos.  Antiq.  xviii.,  xix.,  xx. 

®  Acad,  of  Inscr.  etc.  M^m.  xxvi.  p.  294  et  seq. 

'  Antiq.  XX.  8:  3,  11 ;  11:  1 ;   Wars,  iv.  9:  2;  Life,  3.     See  ch.  ii.  ante. 


142  ANTICHRIST. 

Jewish  Esther,  born  at  Jerusalem,  a  freedwoman  of 
Claudius  or  Nero,  who  enjoined  on  her  friend  Ares- 
cusus  to  allow  no  inscription  on  her  gravestone  con- 
trary to  the  Law,  —  for  example,  the  letters  D.  M.^ 
There  were  at  Rome  Jewish  actors  and  actresses;^ 
under  Nero  this  was  an  easy  way  to  come  near  the 
emperor.  Mention  is  made  of  Alityrus,  a  Jewish 
mimic  actor,  a  favourite  with  Nero  and  Poppoea ;  it  was 
by  him  that  Josephus  was  introduced  to  the  empress.^ 
Nero,  hating  everything  Roman,  liked  to  turn  to  the 
East,  to  surround  himself  with  Orientals,*  and  keep  up 
intrigues  in  that  quarter.^ 

Is  all  this  enough  to  build  a  theory  upon  ?  May  we, 
perhaps,  trace  to  the  hatred  of  Jews  for  Christians  that 
ferocious  caprice  which  exposed  the  most  harmless  of 
men  to  the  most  monstrous  cruelties  ?  It  looks  ill 
for  the  Jews,  at  all  events,  that  their  private  inter- 
views with  Nero  and  Poppaea  were  just  when  the 
emperor  conceived  his  hateful  scheme  against  the 
Christians.^  Tiberius  Alexander,  in  particular,  a  man 
sure  to  detest  the  saints,  was  then  at  the  height  of 
favour  J  Why  should  the  Romans,  who  commonly  .con- 
founded Jew  and  Christian,  make  just  now  so  sharp 

^  Mommsen,  Inscr.  regni  Neap.  No.  6467  (do  not  mind  Garruci's  re- 
marks in  Cimitero,  24,  25 :  I  verified  the  inscription  at  Naples).  For  the 
name  Aster,  see  Renier,  Inscr.  deVAlg.  No.  3340. 

2  It  has  been  wrongly  inferred  from  the  marks  on  the  sarcophagus* 
cover  of  the  Jewess  Faustina  (Lapi,  Epit.  Sev.  177,  8;  Corp.  inscr.  gr. 
No.  9920)  that  she  was  an  actress. 

8  Life,  3. 

*  See  Tacitus,  Hist.  ii.  95,  for  special  instances. 

6  See  Tac.  Ann.  xv.  36;  Suet.  Nero,  34,  36,  40,  47;  Carm.  Sihyll. 
V.  146. 

^  There  is  an  unlikely  surmise  of  jealousy  between  Poppsea,  who 
favoured  the  Jews,  and  the  dubiously  Christian  Acte. 

7  Wars,  ii.  15:  1. 


THE   CHRISTIAN  MARTYRS.  143 

distinction  between  them  ?  ^  Why  should  the  Jews, 
towards  whom  the  Romans  felt  the  same  moral  an- 
tipathy and  religious  prejudice  as  to  the  Christians,^ 
be  just  now  untouched  by  calumny?  Punishment 
inflicted  on  Jews  would  have  been  just  as  good  an 
expiation.  Clement  of  Rome,  —  or  the  writer  (certainly 
a  Roman)  of  the  epistle  ascribed  to  him,  —  in  a  pas- 
sage alluding  to  the  massacres  of  Christians  ordered 
by  Nero,  explains  them  in  a  characteristic  way  very 
obscure  to  us  :  all  these  horrors,  he  says,  are  "the  result 
of  jealousy,"^  —  evidently  meaning  interior  divisions 
and  animosities  among  members  of  the  same  fraternity. 
Hence  a  suspicion  rises,  strengthened  by  the  undoubted 
fact  that,  until  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  six  years 
later,  the  Jews  were  the  real  persecutors,  and  spared 
no  effort  to  exterminate  the  Christians.*  A  tradition 
current  in  the  fourth  century  had  it  that  both  the 
death  of  Paul,  and  also  that  of  Peter,  in  the  persecu- 
tion of  A.  D.  64,  were  induced  by  the  conversion  of 
a  concubine  and  a  favourite  of  Nero ;  ^  while  another 
tradition  refers  it  to  the  defeat  of  Simon  Magus.^  With 
one  of  so  lawless  fancy  as  Nero  anything  is  credible. 
Possibly  the  selection  of  Christians  for  slaughter  may 

^  Tert.  Afiol.  21.  Seneca  makes  no  distinction;  to  him  Christians 
have  no  separate  existence.     See  Aug.  De  civ.  Dei,  vi.  11. 

2  Corap.  Tac.  Ann.  xv.  44;  Hist.  v.  5,  as  corrected  by  Bernays  after 
Sulp.  Severus  (Ueber  die  Chronik  v.  Sulp.  Sev.)  p.  57. 

»  dia  Cn^ov:  Ad  Cor.  3,  5,  6. 

*  This  appears  everywhere  in  Acts.  Comp.  **  Acts  of  Polycarp,"  17, 
18;  and  observe  the  phrase,  licet  contr arias  sibi,  in  the  address  of  Titus: 
Sulp.  Sev.  (Tacit.)  ii.  30:  6. 

^  See  note,  p.  46,  ante. 

«  "Acts  of  Peter  and  Paul,"  78;  Pseudo-Marcel) us,  Pseudo-Linus, 
Pseudo-Abdias,  i.  18 ;  Pseudo-Hegesippus,  iii.  2 ;  Gregory  of  Tours,  Hist, 
eccl.  i.  24. 


l'44  ANTICHRIST, 

have  been  a  mere  caprice  of  the  emperor  or  of  Tigel- 
linus.-^  Nero  needed  no  outside  pressure  to  form  a 
scheme  so  monstrous  as  to  set  at  naught  all  laws 
of  probability. 

The  first  arrests  were  of  a  number  of  persons  sus- 
pected of  belonging  to  the  new  sect,  who  were  ''  packed 
together,"  says  Clement,  in  a  prison  which  was  itself  a 
torture.^  They  confessed  their  faith,  which  may  have 
been  taken  as  a  confession  of  the  charge.  These  ar- 
rests were  followed  by  many  others.^  The  greater 
part  of  the  accused  seem  to  have  been  proselytes,  who 
kept  the  terms  of  the  decision  given*  at  Jerusalem.^ 
It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  true  Christians  denounced 
their  brethren ;  but  papers  may  have  been  seized,  or 
half-initiated  neophytes  may  have  been  broken  down 
by  torture.  There  was  surprise  that  so  great  a  multi- 
tude had  accepted  these  gloomy  doctrines ;  and  the 
sect  was  spoken  of  with  terror.  Every  man  of  sense 
saw  the  evidence  of  their  guilt  to  be  extremely  weak  ; 
"their  true  crime,"  it  was  said,  "is  hatred  of  man- 
kind "  (odiwni  humani  generis).  Though  convinced  that 
the  conflagration  was  Nero's  crime,  many  sober  Eomans 
saw  in  that  cast  of  the  net  by  the  police  a  shrewd 
device  to  deliver  the  city  from  a  deadly  pest.  Tacitus 
shows  some  pity,^  but  is  still  of  this  opinion.  Sueto- 
nius "*  rates  it  among  the  creditable  acts  of  Nero  that  he 

1  This  latter  would  involve  Poppgea.     See  Tac.  Ann.  xv.  61. 

2  Clem.  Rom.  Ad  Cor.  i.  6;  "  Shepherd"  of  Herraas,  i.  vis.  3:  2. 

8  Multitudo  ingens,  says  Tacitus  {Ann.  xv.  44).     Equivalent  expressions 
are  in  Clem.  Rom.  Ad.  Cor.  i.  6,  and  Rev.  vii.  9,  14. 
^  Acts  XV. 

fi  Rev.  xii.  17,  which  seems  to  refer  to  the  Roman  horrors  of  a.  d.  64. 
*  Tac.  Ann.  xv.  44. 
'  Suet.  Nero,  16. 


THE   CHRISTIAN  MARTYRS.  145 

put  the  followers  of  "the  new  and  baleful  superstition  " 
under  these  frightful  tortures. 

These  tortures  were  indeed  something  frightful. 
Never  had  such  refinements  of  cruelty  been  seen. 
Almost  all  those  under  arrest  were  of  the  lower  orders 
Qiumillorcs),  people  of  no  account.  The  punishment  of 
these  wretches,  held  guilty  of  treason  or  sacrilege,  con- 
sisted in  being  cast  out  to  wild  beasts  or  burned  alive 
in  the  amphitheatre,  with  the  accompaniment  of  cruel 
scourgings.^  One  of  the  most  shocking  traits  of  Koman 
manners  was  to  make  a  festival  of  public  executions, 
and  popular  games  of  butchery.^  Persia,  in  moods  of 
fanaticism  and  terror,  had  known  frightful  displays  of 
torture,  and  more  than  once  had  felt  a  sort  of  gloomy 
delight  in  them  ;  but  never,  until  the  Roman  dominion, 
had  any  gone  so  far  as  to  seek  public  sport  in  such 
horrors,  or  a  subject  of  laughter  and  applause.  The 
amphitheatres,  which  at  this  time  were  of  wood,  had 
become  the  scene  of  executions,  while  the  courts  fur- 
nished victims  to  the  arena.  Condemned  criminals  were 
forwarded  to  Rome  from  all  parts  of  the  world  to  furnish 
material  for  the  circus  and  popular  entertainment.^ 
Add  to  this  a  savage  exaggeration  of  the  criminal 
code,  so  that  petty  offences  were  punished  with  death, 
and  a  multitude  of  judicial  errors  resulting  from  de- 
fective criminal  procedure,  and  we  see  how  distorted 

1  Paul,  Sentent.  v.  39:  4;  Ulpian,  Dir/est,  xlWii.  13;  comp.  Heb.  x.  33; 
Jos.  Wars,  vii.  3:  1;  Mart.  Polycl.  11-13;  Tert.  ApoL  12;  Lact.  De  mart, 
persecut.  To  die  in  the  circus  was  the  penalty  for  criminal  slaves  (Petro- 
nius,  p.  145).  See  also  "  Shepherd  "  of  Hermas,  i.  vis.  3:2;  and  the  Acts 
of  the  martyrs  of  Lyons  (in  Euseb.  v.  1 :  38),  and  of  Africa,  §  18  (Ruinart, 
p    100). 

2  Philo,  In  Flac.  10;  Jos.  Wars,  viii.  3:1;  Suet.  Nero,  12. 
8  See  Martyrdom  of  St.  Ignatius :  els  Tepyjriv  tov  bfjfiov. 

10 


146  ANTICHRIST, 

were  all  notions  on  the  subject.  The  victims  were 
regarded  as  rather  unfortunate  than  guilty ;  in  the 
mass,  they  were  even  held  to  be  mostly  innocent 
{innoxia  corpora)} 

To  the  barbarity  of  the  torment  was  now  added  the 
indignity  of  derision.  The  victims  were  kept  for  a 
holiday,  to  which  was  no  doubt  given  an  expiatory 
character.  Few  days  of  such  distinction  were  enjoyed 
at  Rome.  The  "  morning's  sport,"  devoted  to  combats 
with  wild  beasts,^  beheld  a  strange  procession.  The 
condemned,  clad  in  skins  of  beasts,  were  thrust  upon 
the  arena,  where  they  were  torn  to  pieces  by  blood- 
hounds ;  others  were  crucified  ;  ^  others,  again,  wrapped 
in  garments  steeped  in  oil,  pitch,  or  resin,  were  fastened 
to  stakes,  and  reserved  to  illuminate  the  scene  by  night ; 
these  living  torches  were  fired  as  twilight  came  on. 
Nero  opened  for  the  spectacle  his  magnificent  gardens 
beyond  the  Tiber,  now  the  site  of  the  Borgo,  with  the 
square  and  basilica  of  Saint  Peter's  (the  "Black 
Meadow"  of  the  Middle  Age).  Here  was  a  circus, 
begun  by  Caligula  and  continued  by  Claudius,  bounded 
by  an  obelisk  brought  from  Heliopolis,  the  same  which 
now  stands  in  the  middle  of  the  Fiazza}     The  spot  had 

1  Manil.  Astron.  v.  6;  6;  comp.  the  mediaeval  notions  attached  to  the 
words  marturiare,  and  the  like. 

2  Seneca,  Epist.  7  ;  Suet.  Claud.  34;  Martial,  x.  25  ;  xiii.  95;  Tert. 
ApoL  15.  Comp.  Ovid,  Met.  xi.  26 ;  Virgil  (redeunt  spectacula  mane) ; 
Orelli,  2553,  4.  The  martyrs  of  Carthage  (§  47)  partake  their  last  meal 
at  night. 

8  The  reading  in  Tacitus,  aut  Jlammandi  atque,  has  been  questioned 
(see  Bernays,  Chron.  des  Sulp.  Sev.  54,  55,  n.),  but  on  no  sufficient  ground; 
the  second  aut,  however,  may  be  superfluous.  Flammandi  (=  ut  Jiamma- 
rentur)  is  right  [or  it  may  be  read  as  a  present  passive  participle]. 

4  Suet.  Claudius,  21;  Tac.  Ann.  xiv.  14;  Pliny,  xvi.  40:  76;  xxxvi. 
11 :  15.     This  circus  is  the  naumachia  (sea-fight)  spoken  of  in  the  "  Acts  of 


THE   CHRISTIAN  MARTYRS.  147 

before  this  been  the  scene  of  torchlight  slaughter, 
when  Caligula,  as  he  passed  in  his  chariot,  ordered 
a  number  of  ex-consuls,  senators,  and  ladies  of  rank 
to  be  beheaded.^  It  may  have  seemed  an  ingenious 
device  to  substitute  bodies  of  living  men  and  women, 
wrapped  in  blazing  raiment,  for  flames  kindled  upon 
pillars  to  illuminate  the  scene.  As  a  mode  of  punish- 
ment, this  way  of  burning  was  not  new;  it  was  the 
ordinary  sentence  of  incendiaries,  and  was  called  the 
"  shirt  of  torment "  [tunica  molesta) ;  ^  but  it  had  never 
before  been  used  for  the  lighting  of  a  public  square. 
By  the  blaze  of  these  hideous  torches,  Nero  —  who 
had  brought  these  night-races  into  fashion  —  displayed 
himself  in  the  arena,  sometimes  mingling  among  the 
people  in  jockey-costume,  sometimes  driving  his  chariot, 
and  bidding  for  applause.  Still,  there  were  here  and 
there  signs  of  pity.  Even  some  who  thought  the 
Christians  guilty,  and  admitted  the  punishment  to  be 
deserved,  were  filled  with  horror  at  these  barbarous 
sports.  Good  men  would  have  wished  that  only  the 
public  benefit  should  be  regarded,  in  purging  the  city 
of  dangerous  criminals,  but  that  there  should  be  no 
appearance  of  making  them  a  sacrifice  to  one  man's 
bloodthirsty  cruelty.^ 

Peter."  Comp.  Platner  and  Bunsen,  Beschr.  der  Stadt  Rom.  ii.  1:  39. 
The  obelisk,  formerly  in  the  sacristy,  was  removed  by  Sixtus  V. 

^  Sen.  De  ira,  iii.  18. 

2  Juvenal,  i.  155,  6;  viii.  233-5;  Martial,  ^;?/<7.  x.  25:  5  ;  comp.  Sen. 
De  tra,  iii,  3.  Notice  the  condition  of  "burning"  (uri)  in  gladiatorial 
contracts  in  Ilor.  Sat.  ii.  7:  58;  Petron.  p.  149  (Biicheler);  Sen.  Epist.  37. 

«  Tac.  Ann.  xv.  44;  Suet.  Neroy  16;  Clem.  Rom.  Ad.  Cor.  i.  6;  Tert. 
Apol.  5  (citing  official  documents);  Ad  nat.  i.  7;  Scorp.  15;  Euseb.  ii.  22, 
25;  Chron.  Nero,  Ann.  13;  Lact.  De  mort.  persec.  2;  Sulp.  Sev.  Hist. 
Sacra,  ii.  29;  Orosius,  vii.  7;  Greg.  Tur.  i.  24;  George  Sync,  Chron. 
p.  339.     Echoes  of  this  persecution  and  allusions  to  its  cruelties  are  found 


148  ANTICHRIST, 

Women  and  maidens  were  forced  to  bear  a  part  in 
these  horrible  sports,  and  the  nameless  indignities  they 
suffered  were  made  matter  of  public  jesting.-^  It  was 
the  custom  under  Nero  that  the  condemned  should 
represent  in  the  amphitheatre  parts  in  mythological 
tales  involving  the  actor's  death.  These  abominable 
melodramas,  in  which  mechanical  skill  was  employed 
with  prodigious  effect,^  were  something  new.  Greece 
would  have  been  amazed  at  a  proposal  so  to  employ 
ferocity  for  theatrical  effect,  and  make  a  fine  art  of 
torture.  The  unhappy  wretch  was  dragged  into  the 
arena,  richly  attired  as  a  god  or  hero  devoted  to 
death;  and  then,  in  his  torment,  he  exhibited  some 
tragic  scene  of  a  story  consecrated  by  sculptors  and 
poets.^  At  one  time,  it  might  be  Hercules,  raving  in 
torment  on  Mt.  (Eta,  tearing  off*  the  poisoned  shirt  of 
Nessus,  a  tunic  of  flaming  pitch ;  at  another,  Orpheus, 
rent  in  pieces  by  a  bear ;  or  Daedalus,  hurled  from  the 
sky  and  devoured  by  beasts ;  or  Pasiphae,  assaulted  by 
the  bull ;  or  Attys,  son  of  Croesus,  slain  with  a  javelin* 
—  possibly  an  error  for  Adonis,  torn  by  a  boar ;  or  at 
times  there  would  be  horrible  masquerades,  in  which 
men  were  clad  in  red  mantles  as  priests  of  Saturn,  and 
women  as  priestesses  of  Ceres  with  frontlets  on  their 
brows ;  or,  again,  there  were  dramatic  scenes,  in  which 

in  Rev.  vi.  9-11;  vii.  9-14;  xii.  10-12,  17;  xiii.  7,  10,  15,  16;  xiv.  12,  13; 
xvi.  6 ;  xvii.  6  ;  xviii.  24 ;  xx.  4 ;  Heb.  x.  32-34  ;  "  Shepherd  "  of  Hermas, 
i.  vis.  3:2;  Carm.  SihylL  iv.  136;  v.  136,  385;  Matt.  xxiv.  9  (?).  It  will 
presently  appear  that  Revelation  is  a  direct  outgrowth  of  Nero's  persecu- 
tion.    The  inscription  in  Orelli  (730)  is  false. 

1  Clem.  Rom.  i.  6.  2  Mart.  Sped.  xxi. 

8  Martial,  Sped.  v.  (cf.  Suet.  Nero,  12;  Apul.  Metam.  i.  10);  id.  viii., 
xxi.;  Tert.  Apol.  9,  15;  Ad.  nat.  i.  10.  The  tunica  molesta  was  generally 
used  in  representing  Hercules  on  Mt.  (Eta  (Juv.  viii.  235;  Mart.  x.  25:  5). 

*  Herodotus,  i.  23. 


THE   CHRISTIAN  MARTYRS.  149 

the  actor  was  really  put  to  death,  like  Laureolus;^ 
or,  perhaps,  tragic  deeds  like  that  of  Mucins  Scsevola.^ 
At  the  close  of  the  entertainment  Mercury,  with  a 
wand  of  red-hot  iron,  would  touch  each  body  to  see 
if  it  should  stir ;  while  lackeys  in  masks,  personating 
Pluto  or  Orcus,  dragged  out  the  corpses  by  the  feet, 
knocking  in  the  head  any  that  might  still  show  signs 
of  life.« 

Christian  ladies  of  the  highest  rank  must  have  their 
share  in  these  horrors.  Some  played  the  part  of  the 
Dana'ids,  and  others  that  of  Dirce.*  It  is  hard  to  see 
how  the  story  of  the  former  could  furnish  the  due 
picture  of  horrors ;  for  the  punishment  exhibited,^  as- 
signed by  all  mythology  to  those  guilty  maids,  was 
scarcely  cruel  enough  to  please  Nero  and  the  fre- 
quenters of  his  shows.  Perhaps  they  marched  in  file, 
bearing  urns,^  and  as  each  passed,  she  received  the 
fatal  blow  from  an  actor  disguised  as  Lynceus ;  ^  or 
perhaps  Amymone,  one  of  the  number,  was  seen  chased 
by  a  satyr  and  assailed  by  Neptune ;  ^  or  it  may  be  that 
these  wretched  maidens  exhibited  in  succession  the 
whole  series  of  the  punishments  of  Tartarus,  and  died 
after  hours  of  torment.  Representations  of  the  world 
below  were  then  in  fashion.  A  few  years  before 
(a.  d.  41),  some  Egyptians  and  Nubians  came  to  Rome, 

1  See  end  of  chap,  ii.,  ante. 

2  Martial,  Ejpig.  viii.  30 ;  x.  25. 

*  These  scenes  have  been  described  at  length  in  the  powerful  and 
tragic  tale  of  Quo  VadiSj  by  H.  Sienkiewicz.  —  Ed. 

*  Clem.  Rom.  i.  6. 

5  Pausanias,  x.  31:  9,  11;  Mus.  Pio-Clem.  iv.  tab.  36. 

*  Mus.  Pio-Clem.  ii.  2;  Guigniaut,  Relig.  de  VAnt.  pi.  606a.  Comp. 
Bulletino  deW  Inst,  di  corr.  arch.,  1843,  119-123. 

^  See  Schol.  on  Eurip.  Hec.  886;  Servius  on  ^n.  x.  497. 
8  Hygin,  Fabulce,  169;  see  below,  p.  156. 


ISO  ANTICHRIST. 

and  had  great  success  in  exhibitions  by  night,  display- 
ing by  order  the  horrors  of  Tartarus/  in  conformity 
with  pictures  existing  at  Thebes,  particularly  those  on 
the  tomb  of  Sethi  I. 

Regarding  the  torm.ent  of  Dirce,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  at  all.  A  well-known  colossal  group  in  the 
museum  at  Naples  is  that  of  the  Farnese  Bull,  in  which 
Ainphion  and  Zethus  are  fastening  Dirce  to  the  horns 
of  a  wild  bull,  which  will  drag  her  through  the  rocks 
and  briers  of  Cithaeron.^  This  poor  piece  of  Rhodian 
sculpture,  taken  to  Rome  in  the  time  of  Augustus,  was 
an  object  of  universal  admiration.^  What  finer  subject 
for  that  brutal  style  of  art  brought  into  vogue  by  the 
cruelty  of  the  time,  which  consisted  in  turning  famous 
sculptures  into  living  pictures  ?  An  inscription  and  a 
fresco  at  Pompeii  seem  to  prove  that  this  dreadful 
scene  was  often  exhibited  in  the  arena,  when  a  woman 
was  to  suffer  death.*  Fastened  by  the  hair,  naked,  to  the 
horns  of  a  wild  bull,  these  poor  creatures  were  exposed 
to  the  wanton  gaze  of  a  ferocious  mob.  Some  of  the 
Christian  women  immolated  thus  were  feeble  of  body,^ 

1  Suet.  Caius,  57. 

2  Real  Museo  Borhonico^  xiv.  tab.  iv.  v. ;  Guigniaut,  pi.  728,  728  a. ; 
Gargiulo,  i.  No.  1-3;  iii.  No.  23.  Comp.  Mem.  della  R.  Acad.  Ercol.  iii. 
386  et  seq. ;  iv.  pt.  1 ;  vii.  1  et  seq. ;  Raoul-Rochette,  Choix  de  peint.  de 
Pompei,  pi.  xxiii.  277-288;  Ann.  de  VInst.  de  corr.  arch.  xi.  (1839),  287- 
292;  Helbig,  Wandgemdlde,  1151,  2,  3;  Jahn,  Arch.  Zeit.  1853,  No. 
36,  etc. 

'  Pliny,  xxxvi.  5 :  4.     See  Brunn,  uU  supra,  p.  129,  n.  3. 

*  See  Apuleius,  Metam.vi.  127;  Lucian,  Lucius,  23;  Memorie,  etc.,  vii., 
plate  in  the  first  paper,  apparently  showing  the  torture  as  a  spectacle. 
Also  Hygin,  Fab.  8 ;  and  comp.  the  martyrdom  of  Blandina,  exposed  (at 
Yienne)  in  a  net  to  a  bull,  and  of  Perpetua  and  Felicitas  (at  Carthage) 
exposed  in  like  manner  to  a  maddened  cow  (Euseb.  v.  1;  "Martyrs  of 
Africa,"  §  20). 

6  Clem.  Rom.  i.  6. 


THE   CHRISTIAN  MARTYRS,  151 

tliongh  of  courage  superhuman ;  but  that  beastly  crowd 
had  eyes  only  for  the  torn  side  and  the  mangled 
breast. 

Nero  was,  without  doubt,  present  at  these  spectacles. 
As  he  was  near-sighted,  he  used  to  put  to  his  eye  on 
such  occasions  a  concave  lens  of  "  emerald,"  ^  which 
served  him  as  an  eye-glass.^  He  liked  to  exhibit  his 
connoisseurship  in  matters  of  sculpture ;  it  is  said  that 
he  made  brutal  remarks  on  his  mother's  dead  body, 
praising  this  point  and  criticising  that.  Living  flesh 
quivering  in  a  wild  beast's  jaw,  or  a  poor  shrinking 
girl,  screening  herself  by  a  modest  gesture,  then  tossed 
by  a  bull  and  cast  in  lifeless  fragments  on  the  gravel 
of  the  arena,  must  exhibit  a  play  of  form  and  colour 
worthy  of  an  artist-sense  like  his.  Here  he  was,  in  the 
front  row,  on  a  low  balcony,^  in  a  group  of  vestals  and 
curule  magistrates,  —  with  his  ill-favoured  countenance, 
his  short  sight,  his  blue  eyes,  his  curled  light-brown 
hair,  his  cruel  mouth,  his  air  like  a  big  silly  baby, 
at  once  cross  and  dull,  open-mouthed,  swollen  with 
vanity,*  while  brazen  music  throbbed  in  the  air,  turned 
to  a  bloody  mist.  He  would,  no  doubt,  inspect  with  a 
critic's  eye  the  shrinking  attitudes  of  these  new  Dirces ; 
and  I  imagine  he  found  a  charm  he  had  never  known 
before  in  the  air  of  resignation  with  which  these  pure- 
hearted  girls  faced  their  hideous  death. 

These  shocking  scenes  were  long  remembered. 
Even  in  the  time  of  Domitian,  when  an  actor  suffered 

^  The  term  "emerald"  —  a-fidpaybos  —  was  probably  given,  according 
to  Liddell  and  Scott,  to  "  all  greenish  crystals,"  or  to  glass.  —  Ed. 

2  Pliny,  xxxvii.  5;  16.  »  Suet.  Nero,  12. 

*  See  portraits  of  the  Capitol,  Vatican,  Palatine,  and  Louvre ;  cf .  Pliny, 
xi.  27:  54. 


152  ANTICHRIST. 

death  in  playing  his  part,  —  especially  a  Laiireolus, 
actually  dying  on  the  cross,  —  they  remembered  these 
votive  offerings  {piacula)  of  Nero's  day,  and  thought 
this  was  another  incendiary  of  Rome.^  The  slang- 
terms  sarmentitii  or  sarmeniarii  ("faggot-men"),  and 
semaxii  ("half  axle-men"),^  and  the  popular  cry, 
"  Christians  to  the  lions ! "  seem  to  date  from  this 
time.^  Nero,  with  a  sort  of  artist-touch,  had  stamped 
infant  Christianity  with  an  indelible  mark ;  the  bloody 
scar  (ncevKs)  on  the  forehead  of  the  martyr-church  will 
never  be  effaced. 

Those  of  the  brethren  who  were  not  tortured  had,  in 
a  way,  their  share  in  the  torture  of  the  rest  by  the 
sympathy  they  felt  and  the  pains  they  took  to  visit 
them  in  their  chains.  This  dangerous  privilege  they 
often  bought  at  the  price  of  all  their  goods ;  so  that 
the  survivors  of  the  crisis  were  many  of  them  wholly 
ruined.  This  they  hardly  thought  of ;  they  looked  only 
for  durable  riches  in  heaven,  and  would  say  among 
themselves,  "Yet  a  little  longer,  and  he  that  is  to 
come  will  come."  * 

Such  was  the  prelude  to  that  wonderful  poem  of 
Christian  martyrdom,  —  this  epic  of  the  amphitheatre, 
which  was  to  last  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  and  give 
birth  to  the  ennobling  of  woman  and  the  redemption  of 
the  slave  by  such  episodes  as  the  following :  Blandina 
on  the  cross,  dazzling  the  eyes  of  her  companions,  who 
saw  in  this  pale  and  gentle  slave-girl  the  image  of  the 
crucified  Redeemer ;  Potamiena,  protected  against  insult 

*  Mart.  Sped.  vii.  10;  Juv.  viii.  133-235. 

2  The  stakes  to  which  they  were  bound  when  burned  were  probably 
"wrecks  of  chariots  broken  in  the  races.    For  these  terms,  see  Tertullian. 
8  Tert.  Apol.  14,  40.  *  Heb.  x.  32-34. 


THE   CHRISTIAN  MARTYRS.  153 

by  the  young  officer  who  led  her  forth  to  execution ; 
the  mob  stricken  with  horror  when  it  saw  the  bleeding 
bosom  of  Felicitas ;  Perpetua  in  the  arena,  binding  up 
her  own  hair,  torn  and  disordered  by  wild  beasts,  lest 
"in  her  hour  of  glory"  she  might  seem  to  be  in 
mourning.  Legend  tells  how  one  of  these  saintly 
maidens,  on  her  way  to  the  scene  of  torture,  met  the 
pitying  eye  of  a  youth  touched  by  her  beauty ;  and, 
wishing  to  leave  him  a  mark  of  remembrance,  gave 
him  the  kerchief  that  covered  her  bosom,  fired  by 
which  token,  the  youth  ran  an  instant  after  upon  his 
martyrdom :  such  was  the  dangerous  charm  of  these 
bloody  scenes  at  Rome,  Lyons,  or  Carthage !  The 
joy  of  these  sufferers  in  the  amphitheatre  grew  conta- 
gious, just  as  did  the  resignation  of  the  "  victims "  in 
the  Reign  of  Terror.  The  imagination  of  the  time 
conceived  of  the  Christians  as,  first  of  all,  obstinate 
to  suffer :  the  token  they  are  known  by  is  their  desire 
for  death. ^  To  check  excess  of  eagerness  for  martyr- 
dom required  the  most  dreaded  of  threats,  the  charge 
of  heresy,  with  expulsion  from  the  Church. 

The  blunder  of  the  educated  classes  in  the  empire, 
in  evoking  this  feverish  exaltation  of  spirits,  cannot  be 
too  severely  censured.  To  suffer  for  one's  belief  is  so 
sweet  a  thing  that  this  alone  is  enough  to  win  men  to 
believe.  More  than  one  sceptic  has  been  converted  by 
no  better  reason  than  that.  Li  the  East  there  have 
even  been  impostors  who  would  lie  for  the  mere 
pleasure  of  lying,  and  of  suffering  for  the  lie.     There 

1  Moriendi  contemplus,  says  Tacitus  {Hist.  v.  5).  He,  it  is  true,  applies 
it  to  Jews,  not  Christians,  though  he  well  knows  the  difference.  What 
Epictetus  and  Aurelius  say  of  Galilseans  applies  also  to  the  fanatics  of 
the  siege.     See  "  The  Apostles,"  p.  235,  n. 


154  ANTICHRIST, 

is  no  sceptic  who  does  not  view  the  martyr  with  a 
certain  envy,  grudging  to  him  that  supreme  joy  of  a 
positive  belief  in  something.  A  secret  instinct  impels 
us  to  stand  with  "  them  which  are  persecuted."  Who- 
ever thinks  to  arrest  a  religious  or  social  movement  by 
measures  of  repression,  proves  his  complete  ignorance 
of  the  human  heart,  and  testifies  that  he  understands 
nothing  of  the  true  method  of  political  action. 

What  has  happened  once  may  happen  again. 
Tacitus  would  have  turned  aside  in  wrath  if  he  could 
have  been  shown  the  future  of  those  Christians  whom 
he  thought  of  as  ignoble  wretches.  High-born  Romans 
would  have  cried  out  if  some  looker-on,  gifted  with 
a  spirit  of  prophecy,  had  dared  say  to  him :  "  These 
incendiaries  will  be  the  saviours  of  the  world."  Here 
is  the  everlasting  refutation  of  conservative  dogma- 
tism :  it  is  an  incurable  twist  of  conscience,  a  secret 
perversity  of  judgment.  Wretches  flouted  by  all  decent 
people  have  come  to  be  saints  of  the  earth.  It  were 
not  well  that  such  revolutions  of  opinion  should  be 
frequent.  The  safety  of  human  society  demands  that 
its  verdict  should  not  be  too  often  set  aside.  Ever 
since  the  condemnation  of  Jesus,  ever  since  martyrs 
have  found  gain  to  their  cause  by  revolt  against  the 
law,  there  has  always  been  a  tribunal  of  private  appeal 
against  the  charge  of  social  guilt.  Every  convicted 
offender  can  say,  "Jesus  too  was  condemned;  the 
martyrs  were  held  to  be  dangerous  criminals,  whom 
society  was  well  rid  of ;  and  yet  centuries  have  con- 
fessed that  they  were  right."  A  hard  hit  for  those 
ponderous  assertions  by  which  society  would  make  out 
its  foes  to  be  lacking  at  once  in  common-sense  and 
common  virtue  ! 


THE   CHRISTIAN  MARTYRS.  155 

Since  the  day  when  Jesus  breathed  his  last  on 
Calvary,  the  most  solemn  date  of  all  Christian  history 
was  that  —  about  the  first  of  August  in  the  year  sixty- 
four —  when  the  festival  of  death  was  held  in  Nero's 
gardens.  A  structure  is  solid  in  proportion  to  the 
amount  of  virtue,  sacrifice,  and  self-devotion  that  has  . 
gone  into  its  foundation.  Fanatics  are  the  only  real  r^ 
founders.  Judaism  endures  to  this  day  because  of  J 
the  intense  frenzy  of  its  prophets  and  men  of  zeal ; 
Christianity,  because  of  the  boldness  of  its  first  wit- 
nesses. That  orgy  of  Nero  was  the  bloody  baptism 
wliich  marked  Rome  as  the  martyr-city,  destined  to  a 
place  of  its  own  in  Christian  history,  and  to  be  the 
second  holy  city.  Thus  the  Vatican  Mount  came  to  be 
held  by  conquerors  of  a  sort  never  known  till  then. 
The  brainless  creature  who  held  the  helm  of  the  world 
did  not  see  that  he  was  helping  to  lay  the  foundation 
of  a  new  social  order,  was  signing  for  the  future  a 
charter,  written  in  vermilion,  that  would  be  held  good 
at  the  end  of  eighteen  centuries.  Rome,  guilty  of  all 
that  innocent  blood,^  became  like  Babylon,  a  sacra- 
mental and  symbolic  city.  On  that  day  Nero  took  a 
position  of  the  first  rank  in  Christian  history.  That 
miracle  of  horror,  that  wonder  of  iniquity,  was  a 
manifest  sign  to  all.  One  hundred  and  fifty  years 
later  Tertullian  cries  out:  "Yes,  we  are  proud  that 
our  outlawry  was  spoken  by  such  a  man  !  Understand 
him  well,  and  you  shall  see  that  it  is  high  honour  to 
have  been  condemned  by  Nero."  ^  The  expectation  had 
already  gone  abroad  that,  before  the  true  Christ  should 
come,  would  be  the  coming  of  a  sort  of  infernal  Christ, 

^  Rev.  xviii.  24;  xix.  2. 

2  A]poL  ^\  Ad.  nat.  i.  7;  comp.  Sulp.  Sev.  ii.  28. 


IS6  ANTICHRIST, 

who  would  be  at  all  points  the  opposite  of  Jesus.^  It 
was  no  longer  to  be  doubted :  the  Antichrist,  the 
Prince  of  Evil,  did  exist.  This  was  the  monster  with  a 
human  face,  made  up  of  cruelty,  deceit,  shamelessness, 
and  pride,  which  ran  through  the  world  as  a  Knight  of 
Folly,  casting  light  on  his  triumphs  in  the  chariot-race 
from  torches  of  human  flesh,  getting  drunk  with  the 
blood  of  saints,  or  even  worse.  Suetonius  has  described 
a  monstrous  game  devised  by  Nero,  which  we  are 
tempted  to  think  had  to  do  with  Christians :  youths, 
men,  women,  and  maidens  were  bound  naked  to  stakes 
in  the  arena,  when  a  wild  beast,  rushing  out  of  the  den 
(cavea),  spent  his  rage  on  their  living  flesh,  while  the 
freed  man  Doryphorus  (an  infamous  creature  of  Nero's, 
to  whom  he  pretended  to  be  married)  seemed  to 
beat  off  the  beast,  —  Nero  himself,  disguised  in  a  wild 
beast's  skin.^  The  name  of  Nero  is  discovered  :  we  shall 
find  it  as  "the  Beast."  Caligula  was  the  Anti-God; 
Nero  is  the  Anti-Christ.  The  figure  in  the  Apocalypse 
is  conceived.  The  Christian  maiden,  fastened  to  a 
stake  and  exposed  to  the  filthy  approaches  of  the 
Beast,  bears  with  her  into  all  coming  time  that 
frightful  image. 

On  this  day,  too,  by  a  strange  contradiction,  was 
evolved  that  lovely  paradox  which  has  made  for  cen- 
turies, and  still  constitutes  in  part,  the  best  thing  in 
man's  life.     It  was  an  hour  registered  in  heaven,  when 

1  See  «  Saint  Paul,"  chap.  ix. 

2  Doryphorus  ("  spearman  ")  was  probably  a  stage-name.  He  is  called 
Pythagoras  by  Tacitus  (Ann.  xv.  37)  and  Dion  Cass.  (Ixii.  28;  Ixiii.  13, 
22;  but  see  Ixi.  5).  See  Suet.  Nero^  29,  and  the  above  passages  of  Dion 
Cassius;  and  comp.  Tac.  xv.  44;  Clem.  Rom,  Ad  Cor.  i.  c.  6.  Especially 
note  the  part  assigned  to  Nero,  under  the  name  "the  Beast,"  comparing 
Heb.  X.  33 ;  Carm.  Sibyll  v.  (cir.  a.  d.  140),  385,  386. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MARTYRS,  157 

womanly  purity,  till  now  so  scrupulously  hidden  from 
the  world's  eye,  appeared  in  open  daylight  before  fifty 
thousand  spectators,  unshamed  as  the  marble  figure  in 
a  sculptor's  studio,  in  the  form  of  a  maiden  about  to 
die.  This  was  the  revealing  of  a  secret  unknown  to 
antiquity,  the  clear  announcement  that  simple  modesty 
is  in  itself  a  beauty  and  a  delight.  We  have  already 
seen  that  great  enchantress  called  Imagination,  who 
from  age  to  age  transforms  the  ideal  of  womanhood, 
toiling  incessantly  to  set  above  the  pride  of  beauty 
the  charm  of  modesty,  —  Poppaea  herself  reigned  only 
by  assuming  its  outer  shape,  —  and  of  resigned  humility, 
wherein  was  the  triumph  of  the  gentle  Acte.  Wonted 
to  lead  his  own  age  in  ways  of  the  unknown,  Nero, 
it  would  seem,  had  a  foretaste  of  this  sentiment,  and, 
in  his  artist-extravagances,  discovered  the  secret  charm 
that  is  found  in  Christian  art.  His  affection  for  Acte 
and  for  Poppcea  shows  that  he  was  capable  of  the  finer 
emotions.  And,  as  all  that  came  into  his  hands  tended 
to  the  monstrous,  he  would  set  before  his  eyes  the 
vision  of  his  dreams.  At  the  centre  of  his  crystal  lens 
was  pictured  a  maiden  figure,^  as  of  the  heroine  carven 
on  an  antique  cameo ;  and  the  shrinking  form  of  the 
girl-martyr,  winning  the  applause  of  this  friend  of 
Petronius,  this  master-artist,  who  perhaps  saluted  the 
dying  maid  with  some  favourite  line  of  a  classic  poet, 
became  a  rival  to  the  self-conscious  loveliness  of  the 
Grecian  Aphrodite.  When  with  brutal  hand  the  jaded 
world  tore  away  the  veil  of  Christian  modesty,  that  it 
might  find  a  new  sensation  in  the  martyr's  agony,  the 

^  In  the  original,  Vimage  de  Vaieule  de  Cymodocee,  Cymodoce  being 
the  heroine  of  Chateaubriand's  Les  Martyrs,  supposed  to  have  suffered  in 
the  persecution  of  Diocletian.  —  Ed. 


158  ANTICHRIST, 

poor  child  miglit  perhaps  think  to  herself,  "  I  too  am 
beautiful !  '*  This  was  the  first  budding  forth  of  an 
art  entirely  new.  A  new  type  of  beauty,  to  be  devel- 
oped in  Christian  ages,  sprang  into  being  under  the 
eye  of  Nero,  owing  the  revelation  of  its  magic  to  the 
crime  which,  by  rending  its  robe,  disclosed  its  virgin 
purity. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

DEATH  OF  PETER  AND  PAUL.  —  A.  D.  64. 

We  do  not  certainly  know  the  name  of  any  Christian 
who  perished  in  the  shocking  events  of  August,  a.  d.  64. 
Those  arrested  were  new  converts,  and  little  known  to 
one  another.  Those  holy  women  who  had  amazed  the 
Church  by  their  constancy  have  left  no  name.  They  are 
spoken  of  in  Christian  tradition  only  as  "the  Dana'ids 
and  the  Dirces."  ^  But  the  memory  of  the  places  re- 
mained, living  and  profound.  The  circus  or  nawnachia, 
—  afterwards  conceived  as  a  palace  of  Nero,  ^  —  the 
two  bounds,  the  obelisk,  a  terebinth,  which  served  as 
rallying-points  of  memory  to  the  early  Christian  gener- 
ations (see  below),  became  the  foundation  of  a  complete 
ecclesiastical  topography,  which  ended  in  the  consecra- 
tion of  the  Vatican  mount,  and  its  designation  to  a 
religious  future  of  the  highest  importance. 

Although  the  affair  had  been  confined  to  the  city  of 
Rome,  and  although  Roman  opinion  was  by  all  means 
to  be  propitiated,  —  exasperated  as  it  was  by  the  great 
fire,  —  yet  the  atrocity  set  on  foot  by  Nero  could  not  fail 
to  find  an  echo  in  the  provinces,  and  to  stir  up  in  them 
a  revival  of  persecution.^     The  churches  of  Asia  Minor, 

1  Clem.  Rom.  Ad  Cor.  i.  6. 

^  Becker,  Handb.  d.  rom.  Alt.  i.  671 ;  Lipsius,  Rom.  Petrussage,  104,  n. 
8  Suetonius  (Nero,  16)  and  Tertullian  (Ad  nat.  i.  7)  speak  of  it  only 
in  general  terms. 


i6o  ANTICHRIST, 

especially,  were  severely  tried/  the  pagan  population  of 
this  region  being  quickly  roused  to  fanaticism.^  Some 
were  imprisoned  at  Smyrna.^  One  Antipas  was  a 
"  faithful  martyr "  at  Pergamus,*  though  the  writer's 
habit  of  employing  symbolic  names,  or  anagrams, 
makes  the  name  uncertain  ;  he  seems  to  have  suffered 
near  the  famous  temple  of  -^sculapius,  perhaps  in  a 
wooden  amphitheatre  not  far  distant,  on  some  holiday.*^ 
Pergamus  was  the  only  city  of  Asia  Minor,  excepting 
Cyzicus,  where  there  were  regular  gladiatorial  combats, 
which  were  under  the  direction  of  a  priesthood.^ 
There  was  no  positive  law  forbidding  the  profession 
of  Christianity,^  which,  however,  put  one  out  of  the 
protection  of  law.  Such  terms  as  hostis,  hostis  patrice^ 
hostis  publicus,  humani  generis  inimicus,  hostis  deorum 
atque  hominum,  written  in  the  statute,  indicate  enemies 
of  society  in  general,  against  whom,  says  Tertullian, 

1  Rev.  i.-iii. ;  vi.  11  ;  xx.  4  (referring  to  "them  which  were  beheaded," 
which  was  not  the  case  in  Rome).  If  the  writer  was  not  himself  in  Rome, 
his  fervid  temper  shows  that  the  persecution  was  very  sharp  in  Asia 
Minor;  he  was  also  a  "companion  in  tribulation"  (i.  9)-  But  my 
opinion  is  that  he  was  in  Rome  during  the  events  referred  to. 

2  See  Martyrd.  of  Polycarp,  3,  4,  12 ;  Acts  xix.  23-28. 
8  Rev.  ii.  9,  10 ;  Mart.  Polycarp.  17,  18. 

4  Rev.  ii.  13. 

6  See  Mem.  of  the  Acad,  of  Berlin,  1872,  48-58. 

«  Galen,  xiii.  p.  600;  xviii.  pt.  2,  p.  567  (ed.  Kuhn). 

■^  Commodian,  Carm.  xl.,  xli. ;  Euseb.  ii.  25;  Chron.  ann.  13  Nero; 
Lact.  De  mart.  pers.  2;  Sulp.  Sev.  Hist.  sacr.  ii.  28,  29;  Orosius,  vii.  7, 
and  Euthalius  in  Zaccagni,  p.  532,  give  the  same  account.  Rossi  {Bull., 
etc.,  1864,  pp.  69,  92  et  seq. ;  1865,  93)  thinks  he  saw  a  charcoal  inscrip- 
tion on  the  wall  of  an  inn  at  Pompeii,  containing  hints  of  bloody  jests  of 
the  populace  against  the  Christians ;  but  the  inscription  has  disappeared 
(Zangemeister,  Inscr.  pariet.  679),  and  Rossi's  explanation  of  it  is  dubious 
(see  Comptes  rendus  de  VAcad.  1866,  189);  the  scrawl,  containing  the  word 
VINA,  refers  to  charges  of  wine.  In  any  case  it  cannot  be  older  than  a.  d. 
78  or  79,  for  such  inscriptions  do  not  last  long.  Tertullian  {Apol.  40) 
says  there  were  no  Christians  in  Pompeii  before  79. 


DEATH  OF  PETER  AND  PAUL,  i6i 

every  man  becomes  a  soldier.^  Thus  the  mere  name 
*•  Christian"  was  a  crime  ;^  and,  as  the  judge  had 
absolute  discretion  in  deciding  on  such  offences,^  the 
life  of  every  disciple,  from  this  day  forth,  was  at  the 
mercy  of  magistrates  excessively  hard-hearted,  and  full 
of  the  bitterest  prejudice  against  them.* 

We  may,  probably  enough,  connect  the  deaths  of 
Peter  and  Paul  with  the  incidents  narrated  above.^ 
A  strange  fortune  has  brought  it  about  that  the  dis- 
appearance of  these  two  is  wrapped  in  mystery.  It  is 
certain  that  Peter  suffered  martyrdom,^  and  it  is  hardly 
to  be  supposed  that  it  was  elsewhere  than  at  Rome :  ^ 
in  that  case,  it  was  at  Jerusalem  or  Antioch,  each  of 
them  equally  unlikely ;  while  the  only  known  incident 
that  seems  to  throw  light  on  his  death  is  that  told 
by  Tacitus.®  Strong  reasons  lead  us  to  believe  that 
Paul  too  suffered  in  Rome.     The  expression  of  Clement 

1  Apol.  2,  25,  35,  37;  Jrf  Scap,  4;  Cod.  Theod.  1.  3,  6,  7,  9;  de  Male- 
Jicis  et  mathemadcis  (ix.  18).  Comp.  Acts  of  Cyprian's  martyrdom,  §  4 
(Ruinart,  Acta  sincera,  217). 

-  1  Pet.  iv.  14;  Matt.  x.  22;  xxiv.  9;  Mark  xiii.  13;  Luke  xxi.  12,  17. 

8  Digest  1.  6,  ad  legem  Juliam  peculatus  (xlviii.  13;  ib.  1.  4,  §  2). 

*  Paul,  Sentent.  v.  29:  1;  Luke  xxi.  12  is  written  under  the  fresh 
impression  of  these  judicial  cruelties. 

5  So  Eusebius  (Chron),  agreeing  with  Clem.  Rom.  i.  5,  6,  and  con- 
firmed by  Rev.  xviii.  20:  see  Euthalius,  532;  Geo.  Syncellus,  339. 

"  John  xxi.  18,  19,  comp.  with  xii.  32,  33;  xiii.  36  (passages  written, 
without  question,  before  a.  d.  150,  and  the  stronger  because  they  allude 
to  the  fact  as  well  known) ;  2  Pet.  i.  14;  Can.  of  Murat.  11.  36,  37;  Clem. 
Rom.  i.  5;  Dion,  of  Corinth,  and  Caius  priest  at  Rome,  in  Euseb.  ii.  25; 
Tert.  Prrsscr.  36,  Adv.  Marc.  iv.  5 ;  Scorp.  15.  Comp.  also  Luke  xxii. 
32-34,  with  John  xiii.  30-38,  and  the  Canon  of  Muratori ;  also,  Macarius 
jMagnes,  iv.  4  (unpublished). 

'  See  Rev.  xviii.  20. 

8  Tac.  Anti.  xv.  44.  Read  carefully  Clem.  Rom.  Ad  Cor.  i.  5,  6  (ed. 
Hilgenfeld).  The  "great  multitude  of  the  elect,"  with  the  Danaids  and 
Dirces,  surely  died  at  Rome  ;  and  these  martyrs  were  gathered  in  heaps 
{<Tvvr]6poi(T6r})  with  Peter  and  Paul. 

11 


1 62  ANTICHRIST, 

{fiapTvpTjcra<; :  see  Acts  xxiii.  11)  does  not  of  itself 
assert  death  by  violence  ;  but  such  (apart  from  the 
parallel  with  Peter)  is  the  sense  obviously  implied/ 
We  may,  then,  refer  his  death,  as  well  as  Peter's,  to 
the  events  of  July  and  August,  A.  D.  64.^  Thus  was 
sealed  in  death  the  reconciliation  of  these  two  souls, 
one  so  strong  and  the  other  so  true ;  thus,  by  the 
authority  of  legend  (which  is  to  say  divine)  was  estab- 

1  Comp.  Euseb.  ii.  25  (Dionysius  and  Caius);  TertuU.  (1.  c.)  ;  Ignatius, 
Eph.  12  (wanting  in  the  Syriac);  Commodian,  Carm.  821. 

2  The  leading  authority  is  Clem.  Rom.  i.  5,  6 ;  this  epistle  was  certainly 
written  at  Rome  not  many  years  after  the  apostles'  death  (ch.  5),  prob- 
ably 93  to  96,  establishing  a  link  between  the  martyrdom  of  Peter,  of 
Paul,  of  the  "  great  multitude,"  and  of  the  Dana'ids  and  Dirces,  by  the 
expression  "with  these  men  were  gathered,"  etc.  (implying  a  "batch" 
of  victims  hurriedly  and  violently  seized),  and  the  motive  of  "  jealousy  " 
assigned.  Now  it  is  clear  that  the  "  great  multitude,"  with  the  Danaids  and 
Dirces,  suffered  in  Nero's  persecution.  The  account  in  Eusebius  tells  us 
that  Peter  and  Paul  died  in  Rome  about  the  same  time.  This  testimony, 
it  is  true,  is  weakened  by  what  is  said  of  Peter's  apostolate  at  Corinth,  and 
his  travels  along  with  Paul,  with  the  evident  motive  to  give  him  a  place 
as  apostle  to  the  gentiles.  Tertullian  (Prcescr.  36  ;  Adv.  Marc.  iv.  5),  and 
Commodian  (Carm.  v.  821),  also  unite  the  two  apostles  in  their  death. 
See  Iren.  Adv.  hcer.  iii.  1:4;  3:3;  Euseb.  ii.  22.  25;  iii.  1;  Chron.  arm. 
13 ;  Lact.  De  mort.  pers.  2  ;  Inst.  div.  iv.  21 ;  Jer.  De  vir.  ill.  5 ;  Euthalius, 
(Zaccagni,  Coll.  mon.  vet.  eccl.  gr.  532);  Sulp.  Sev.  Hist.  sacr.  ii.  29;  Bede, 
De  vet.  temp.  303  (Giles).  The  entire  Roman  tradition,  —  Caius  in  Eus. 
ii.  25;  Liber  pontif.  (Bianchini,  art.  Peter  and  Cornelius,  note  the  contra- 
dictions); Acts  of  Peter  and  Paul  (Bibl.  max.  patrum,  ii.  69  c);  Acts,  etc. 
(Tischendorf,  §  84);  do.  of  Peter  (Bosio,  Roma  sott.  74,  etc.),  —  puts  the 
martyrdom  and  burial  of  Peter  in  Nero's  circus,  with  minute  indications 
of  the  spot,  —  that  is,  just  where  these  atrocities  took  place  (see  Platner 
and  Bunsen,  ii.  1 :  39-41),  Finally,  the  opinion  that  Peter  was  crucified 
head  downward  sufficiently  answers  to  Tac.  xv.  44;  while  the  opinion  that 
the  two  apostles  suffeied  on  the  same  day  got  footing  without  contradic- 
tion (Labbe,  Concil.  iv.  1262;  Jer.  De  vir.  ill.  5).  Prudentius,  Augustine, 
and  others,  hold  that  they  died  on  the  same  date  a  year  apart.  Eusebius 
and  Jerome,  from  theory,  not  tradition,  set  the  date  in  a.  d.  68.  See 
Tillemont,  Mem.  i.  n.  40,  on  Peter;  Zonaras,  xi.  13;  Land,  Anecd.  Syr. 
i.  116. 


DEATH  OF  PETER  AND  PAUL.  163 

lished  the  touching  brotherhood  of  two  men,  whom 
party  feeling  had  set  each  against  the  other,  but  who, 
we  may  believe,  were  superior  to  party  feeling,  and  were 
always  friends.  The  great  legend  of  Peter  and  Paul, 
who,  like  the  twin  founders  of  the  ancient  city,  laboured 
together  for  its  later  glory,^  having  in  human  history 
a  significance  not  unlike  that  of  Jesus,  dates  from  the 
day  when,  according  to  tradition,  they  suffered  death 
together.  Nero  was  herein  the  unconscious  but  most 
effective  agent  in  founding  historic  Christianity ;  for  it 
was  he  who  laid  the  corner-stone  of  the  holy  city. 

As  to  the  manner  of  the  apostles'  death,  we  have 
clear  evidence  that  Peter  was  crucified.^  Old  texts  say 
that  his  wife  was  crucified  with  him,  and  that  he  saw 
her  led  to  execution.^  A  story  generally  received  in 
the  third  century  held  that  he  requested  to  be  crucified 
head  downward,  as  being  unworthy  to  .die  in  the  same 
way  as  Jesus.*  A  characteristic  thing  in  the  horrors  of 
this  time  was  the  pains  taken  to  devise  new  and  horrid 

1  See  Clement  of  Rome,  Dionysius  of  Corinth,  Caius,  and  TertuUian  as 
above  cited;  the  ''preaching  of  Paul,"  cited  in  Lact.  Inst.  div.  iv.  21,  and 
in  the  work,  De  hnpt.  non  iter.,  in  the  sequel  to  Cyprian  (ed.  Rigault,  139)  ; 
Ignatius,  Ad  Rom.  4;  Iren.  iii.  1:4;  iii.  2,  3;  Tert.  PrcBscr.  23.  Note, 
too,  the  inscription  (p.  46,  note  ante)  m.  ann^eo  pavlo  petro,  in  which 
Petrus  must  be  a  Christian  adnomen  (but  see  Orelli,  516,  5455).  For 
sculptured  monuments,  see  Rossi,  £«//.,  1864,  81;  1866,  52;  Martigny, 
Diet.  537,  538. 

2  John  xxi.  18,  19  (cf.  xii.  32,  33;  xiii.  36);  Tert.  Adv.  Marc.  iv.  5; 
PrcEscr.  36;  Scorp.  15;  Euseb.  ii.  25;  Lact.  De  mort.  pers.  2;  Orosius,  vii. 
7.  Tacitus  speaks  of  some  who  were  crucibus  adfixi.  Emendations  sug- 
gested in  this  passage  (Bernays,  Ueher  die  Chron.,  etc.)  would  set  aside 
the  mention  of  simple  crucifixion ;  but  Sulp.  Severus  (ii.  29),  who  nearly 
copies  Tacitus  (a  better  text  than  ours),  agreeing  with  Hermas,  i.  vis. 
3:  2,  expressly  gives  cruces  (aravpovs)  in  the  account. 

*  Clem.  Alex.  Strom,  vii.  11. 

*  Acta  Petri  et  Pauli,  c.  81  (cf.  Pseudo-Linus,  69,  70);  Euseb.  iii.  1 
(following  Origen);  id.  Demonstr.  evang.  iii.  5;  Jer.  De  vir.  ill.  1. 


i64  ANTICHRIST. 

modes  of  torture ;  and  it  is  possible  that  Peter  was 
exposed  to  the  crowd  in  that  shocking  attitude. 
Seneca^  speaks  of  cases  where  tyrants  have  been 
known  thus  to  reverse  the  posture  of  their  victims ;  and 
Christian  piety  may  have  seen  a  mystical  refinement^ 
in  what  was  only  an  executioner  s  strange  caprice.^ 
Possibly  the  words  of  the  Fourth  Gospel,  '^  Thou  shalt 
stretch  forth  thy  hands,  and  another  shall  gird  thee, 
and  carry  thee  whither  thou  wouldest  not,"  *  allude  to 
some  peculiarity  in  the  mode  of  Peter's  death.^  Paul, 
as  a  freeman  born,  was  beheaded.^  Probably  he  had  a 
formal  trial,"^  and  was  not  included  in  the  summary  con- 
demnation of  the  Christian  victims.  Timothy,  as  would 
appear,  was  arrested  with  him  and  detained  in  prison.^ 

Early  in  the  third  century  there  already  existed 
near  Rome  two  monuments,  bearing  the  names  of  the 
apostles  Peter  apd  Paul.  That  of  Peter  was  at  the  foot 
of  the  Vatican  hill ;  that  of  Paul,  on  the  road  to  Ostia. 
In  rhetorical  phrase  they  were  called  the  "  trophies " 
of  the  two  apostles ;  ^  and  they  were  probably  ceUce 
or  memorice  consecrated  to  their  names.  Such  memo- 
rials existed  in  public  before  the  time  of  Constantine, 
as  we  learn  from  Eusebius ;  ^^  and  we  have  a  right  to 

1  Consol.  ad  Marciam,  20.  ^  Rufinus,  tr.  of  Euseb.  iii.  1. 

2  Euseb.  as  above.  *  John  xxi.  18. 

s  The  "girding"  was  not  essential,  or  even  customary.  The  passage 
in  the  Gospel  of  Nicodemus  (pt.  1,  A.  ch.  10)  refers  to  a  very  modern 
conception  as  to  the  crucifixion  of  Jesus. 

®  Tert.  PrcBscr.  36  ;  Scorp.  15;  Euseb.  ii.  25;  Jj^.ct.  De  mort.  2',  Orosius, 
vii.  7;  Euthalius(in  Zaccagni),  427,  522,  531-37 ;  cf.  Paul,  Sent.  v.  29:  1. 

■^  Clem.  Rom.  i.  5;  see  note  6  on  p.  161,  ante. 

8  Heb.  xiii.  23  (but  see  p.  177,  below). 

®  Caius  in  Euseb.  ii.  25.  The  construction  of  a  memoria  of  Peter  on 
the  Vatican  by  Anencletus  (Lib.  pontif.  "  Anenclet.")  is  legendary.  See 
Lipsius,  Chron.  der  rom.  Bischofey  269;  cf.  Bianchini's  text. 

10  Vita  Const,  ii.  40. 


DEATH  OF  PETER  AND  PAUL,  165 

suppose  them  at  this  time  to  be  known  only  to  the 
faithful,  —  though  of  the  publicity  of  Christian  burial- 
places  there  is  no  doubt.^  Possibly  they  were  only  the 
terebinth  of  the  Vatican,  long  associated  with  the  name 
of  Peter,  and  the  pine  of  the  Salvian  waters,  about 
which,  by  some  traditions,  were  gathered  the  memories 
of  Paul.^  Later  on,  these  "trophies"  became  the  tombs 
of  the  two  apostles.  About  the  middle  of  the  third 
century  two  bodies  were  found,  held  in  universal  ven- 
eration as  theirs,^  which  seem  to  have  come  from  the 
catacombs  on  the  Appian  Way,  where  there  were  Jew- 
ish cemeteries.*     In  the  fourth  century  these  bodies  lay 

1  See  Rossi,  Rom.  sott.  i.  209,  210. 

2  Acta,  etc.,  80  (ed.  Tisch.  p.  35,  n.),  p.  162,  n.,  ante.  Still,  these  waters 
are  too  far  from  the  basilica  of  St.  Paul/uo7i'  t  muri  to  allow  identificatiou. 

«  Kalendarium  liberianum,  3  kal.  Jun.  (Abh.  der  kon.  sacks.  Gesch.^ 
phil-hist.  Classe,  i.  632);  Inscr.  of  Damasus  (Gruter,  ii.  1163);  Lib. 
pontif.  (Bianchini  and  Lipsius);  art.  Pelrus,  Cornelius,  Damasus,  and  all 
but  two  from  Linus  to  Victor  (this  book  is  self -contradictory) .  All  that 
concerns  the  transfers  made  by  St.  Cornelius  is  very  obscure.  If  he 
only  restored  the  bodies  to  their  first  resting-place  why  were  they  ever 
taken  away  ?  The  reason  given  in  the  case  of  Peter  (Lampr.  Heliogr.  23) 
is  very  weak,  and  as  to  Paul  there  is  none.  The  nearness  of  the  Jewish 
cemetery  Vigna  Randanini  makes  me  think  that  the  two  bodies  in  ques- 
tion were  taken  by  Cornelius  from  the  catacombs  by  the  Appian  Way, 
when  the  Decian  persecution  made  care  for  martyrs'  remains  a  religious 
duty,  and  stirred  the  zeal  of  the  faithful  Lucina,  who  was  satisfied  with 
very  little  proof,  or  even  perhaps  could  not  deny  herself  some  little  pious 
frauds.  Thus  we  explain  the  traditions  as  to  the  stay  of  the  bodies  in 
the  catacomb  of  St.  Sebastian,  —  t\ie  catacumbas  (Kara  rCfi^ovs  :  Marchi, 
Mon.  delle  arti  crist.  prim.  199-220).  See  Lib.  pontif. :  Bede,  De  temp.  rat. 
309  (ed.  Giles);  Acts  of  St.  Sebastian,  and  others  (Bosio,  247,  248,  251- 
256,  259,  260);  Acta  SS.  Jan.  ii.  258,  278;  Gruter,  1172,  No.  12;  Rossi,  i. 
236,  240-242;  Catal.  imp.  rom.  (Roncalli,  Vet.  lat.  scr.  ckron.,  Padua,  1787, 
ii.  248).  Some  MSS.  of  the  Acta  P.  et  P.  give  data  for  reconciling  con- 
fiicting  accounts.  Tisch.  Acta  apost.  apocr.  38,  39,  n. ;  Lips.  Die  Quellen 
der  rum.  Petrussage,  99;  Mabillon,  Liturg.  Gall.  159;  Greg.  I.  Epist.  iv. 
30;  Acts  of  Mar  Scherbil,  in  Cureton,  Anc.  Syr.  Doc.  61  et  seq. 

*  There  are  two,  about  three  hundred  yards  apart,  north  and  south, 


i66  ANTICHRIST, 

on  the  site  of  the  two  "  trophies."  ^  Over  them  were 
built  two  churches,  of  which  one  was  replaced  by  the 
present  St.  Peter's,  while  the  other,  St.  Paul's,  outside 
the  walls,  retained  its  essential  features  down  to  our 
time.^ 

It  is  possible  that  the  "  trophies  "  so  venerated  about 
the  year  200  really  marked  the  spots  where  the  two 
apostles  suffered.  Paul,  it  is  not  unlikely,  lived  in  his 
last  days  on  the  Ostian  road,  in  the  region  lying  out- 
ward from  the  Lavernal  gate.^  The  shade  of  Peter,  on 
the  other  hand,  ever  flits  in  the  legend  about  the  foot  of 
the  Vatican,  the  gardens  and  circus  of  Nero,  especially 
about  the  obelisk,*  —  the  circus  guarding  the  memory 
of  the  martyrs  of  that  date,  among  whom,   in   lack 

on  the  ground  from  which,  according  to  tradition,  the  bodies  were  taken. 
(Rossi,  1867,  3,  16).  This  would  show  that  the  place  {cata-tumhas),  where 
the  graves  of  the  two  apostles  were  in  the  third  century  supposed  to  be, 
was  part  of  a  vast  Jewish  underground  cemetery,  at  the  bend  of  the  Appian 
Way  toward  St.  Sebastian.  Here  was  the  place  of  Christian  burial  in 
the  first  three  centuries  (Rossi,  vol.  ii.). 

1  Eusebius  (ii.  25)  uses  the  term  "  cemetery  "  (place  of  rest)  to  denote 
the  place  of  burial,  implying  that  Caius  means  the  same  thing  by  "  trophy." 
The  Roman  tradition  generally  holds  that  both  the  apostles  were  buried 
near  the  spots  where  they  died  (Bosio,  74,  197),  often  confounding,  in  the 
case  of  martyrs,  the  place  of  burial  with  that  of  execution  (Hegesippus  in 
Euseb.  ii.  23:  18;  Lib.  pont.  s.  v.  Peter  and  Cornelius;  Acta,  etc.,  §  84). 
This  tradition,  however,  probably  arose  from  the  circumstance  that,  after 
the  bodies  were  removed  and  the  churches  built,  it  was  claimed  that  the 
sacred  relics  had  always  been  there  (Euthalius  in  Zaccagni,  522). 

2  It  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  1827,  and  afterwards  replaced  by  the 
existing  monumental  structure. 

8  Kal.  lib.  1.  c. ;  Lib.  pont.  1.  c. ;  Acta,  etc.,  80.  The  basilica  of  St.  Paul, 
built  on  the  site  indicated,  no  doubt  took  the  place  of  Caius's  "trophy." 
A  later  opinion  held  that  Paul  was  beheaded  two  miles  farther  on,  near 
the  A  quae  Sal  vice  or  Ad  guttam  jngiter  manantem  (now  "  St.  Paul  of  the 
three  fountains "),  one  of  the  most  striking  spots  on  the  Campagna : 
Greg.  I.  Epist.  xiv.  14  ;  Acta^  etc.,  80  (in  some  MSS.);  Acta  Junii,  v.  435. 

*  Bosio,  74 ;  Lips.  102. 


DEATH  OF  PETER  AND  PAUL,  167 

of  clearer  knowledge,  the  tradition  would  fain  include 
Peter.  I,  however,  prefer  to  think  there  was  some 
ground  of  fact,^  and  that  the  old  site  of  the  obelisk 
in  the  sacristy  of  St.  Peter's,  marked  by  an  inscrip- 
tion,—  not  the  Montorio,  which  has  no  claim,  —  shows 
very  nearly  the  spot  where  the  frightful  spectacle  of 
the  crucified  apostle  glutted  the  mob's  cruel  gaze. 

It  is  hardly  to  be  supposed  that  the  bodies  so  held  in 
reverence  were  really  those  of  the  apostles.  True,  the 
custom  of  protecting  the  memory  of  the  martyrs*  tombs 
is  very  ancient  in  the  Church ;  ^  but  about  the  years 
100  and  120  there  was  at  Rome  a  great  development 
of  legend  touching  these  two  apostles,  in  which  was 
wide  scope  for  pious  assertion.  It  is  next  to  incredible 
that  the  bodies  of  the  martyred  victims  could  have 
been  recognised  and  claimed  in  the  days  following 
those  awful  butcheries.  In  the  hideous  mass  of  human 
remains,  —  bruised,  burned,  trampled,  dragged  by  hooks 
into  the  "  place  of  spoils,"  and  then  cast  into  pits,  '^  — 
all  marks  of  identity  would  be  lost.  Remains  of 
victims  were  no  doubt  often  recovered  by  authority 
from  the  executioners ;  *  but,  even  supposing,  as  we 
may,  that  brethren  would  be  found  to  brave  death  in 

1  See  note,  p.  162.  ^  Euseb.  ii.  23:  18. 

«  By  chance  the  name  of  one  Primitivus  has  been  preserved  as  the 
oflBcer  who  directed  this  shocking  business,  whose  epitaph  is  on  the  tomb 
where  he  rested  along  with  the  trainer  Claudius,  the  net-fighter  Teles- 
phorus,  and  Claudius  Agathocles,  surgeon  of  the  morning  games,  all  (as 
appears)  Nero's  slaves  or  freedmen  (Orelli,  2554).  The  passionless 
marble  adds,  "  Light  be  the  earth  upon  you  !  "  We  have  the  epitaph  of 
another  surgeon  of  the  games,  Eutychus,  also  a  slave  of  Nero,  and  his 
wife  Irene  {id.  2553).  It  is  noticeable  that  all  these  officers  of  the  arena 
have  the  same  names  as  those  known  among  the  Christians,  great  num- 
bers having  come  from  Asia. 

*  Digest,  De  cadaveribus  punitorum,  xlviii.  24  (1,  2);  Diocl.  and  Max. 
Cod.  Just.,  constit.  11,  De  religiosis  et  sumptibus  funerum  (ii.  44). 


1 68  ANTICHRIST. 

search  of  the  precious  relics,  they  would,  most  likely, 
instead,  have  been  sent  to  join  the  piles  of  the  dead.^ 
For  several  days,  as  we  find  in  Tacitus,  the  mere  name 
'^Christian"  was  a  death-sentence.  But  this  is  of  small 
account.  If  the  basilica  of  the  Vatican  does  not  really 
cover  Peter's  tomb,  at  least  it  marks  for  our  memory 
one  of  the  holiest  spots  of  Christendom.  The  open 
space  where  the  bad  taste  of  two  centuries  ago  built 
a  theatrical  circular  colonnade  is  a  second  Calvary. 
Even  if  it  was  not  the  scene  of  Peter's  martyrdom, 
here  at  least,  we  cannot  doubt,  suffered  the  Christian 
Dana'ids  and  Dirces. 

If,  as  we  may  believe,  John  came  to  Rome  with  Peter, 
we  may  find  plausible  ground  for  the  old  tradition  that 
tells  how  he  was  cast  into  a  cauldron  of  boiling  oil 
near  the  later  site  of  the  Latin  gate,^  apparently  for  the 
name  of  Jesus.^  We  are  led  to  think  that  he  witnessed, 
and  suffered  in,  the  Neronian  persecution.  The  Apoc- 
alypse is  the  cry  of  horror  uttered  by  a  witness  who 
has  lived  in  "  Babylon,"  who  has  known  the  Beast,  has 
seen  the  bloody  corpses  of  his  martyred  brothers,  and 
has  himself  felt  the  touch  of  death.*     The  wretches 

1  The  tradition  of  such  recoveries  at  this  time  by  a  lady  named  Lucina 
involves  a  confusion  of  date.  She  is  represented  {Lih.  pontif.)  as  an  adviser 
of  Pope  Cornelius  in  252 ;  and  her  legendary  task  extends  to  Diocletian's 
persecution,  a.  d.  405-409;  Acts  of  St.  Sebastian  {Acta  Jan.  ii.  258,  278). 

2  Tert.  Prcescr.  36  (see  Jer.  in  Matt.  xx.  23;  Adv.  Jovin.  i.  26;  Euseb. 
vi.  5).  Tertullian  does  not  fix  the  spot,  but  a  Roman  tradition  apparently 
refers  to  that  mentioned  above  (Platner  and  Bunsen,  iii.  604).  There 
are  other  examples  of  plunging  into  boiling  oil  (Euseb.  vi.  5).  The  Latin 
gate  vsras  in  the  wall  of  Aurelian  ("date  271) ;  there  was  none  of  that  name 
in  the  old  wall.     See  pseudo-Prochorus,  ch.  10,  11  (Latin  tr.). 

«  Rev.  i.  9,  a  conclusive  testimony,  even  if  not  written  by  John  himself. 
Polycrates  speaks  of  him  as  "  martyr  and  teacher  "  (Euseb.  iii.  24  :  3 ;  v. 
24:  3),  —  though  this  may  be  taken  from  the  text  iu  "  Revelation." 

*  Rev.  i.  9;  vi.  9;  xiii.  10;  xx.  4. 


DEATH  OF  PETER  AND  PAUL.  169 

condemned  to  serve  as  torches  by  night  must  first  be 
plunged  in  oil  or  other  inflammable  substance  (boiling 
or  not) ;  and  John  was  possibly  devoted  to  the  same 
torment  as  his  brethren,  and  destined  to  illuminate 
the  night-festival  of  the  Latin  Way  —  then  saved,  by 
hazard  or  caprice.  In  this  quarter  befell  incidents  in 
the  horrors  of  those  dreadful  days.  The  southern  part 
of  Rome  —  the  Porta  Capena,  the  Ostian,  Appian,  and 
Latin  ways  —  forms  a  region  where  the  story  of  the 
infant  Church  in  the  days  of  Nero  seems  to  gather. 

Jealous  destiny  has  ordained  that,  on  many  a  point 
which  stirs  our  lively  curiosity,  we  may  never  emerge 
from  the  shadow  which  hides  the  birth  of  legend. 
Questions  touching  the  death  of  the  apostles  Peter  and 
Paul  are  met,  I  repeat,  only  by  more  or  less  probable  con- 
jectures. The  death  of  Paul,  in  particular,  is  wrapped 
in  thick  darkness.  Expressions  in  the  Apocalypse, 
written  about  68  or  69,  would  incline  us  to  think  that 
the  writer  supposed  him  to  be  still  living.^  Very  likely 
his  end  was  wholly  unknown.  If  he  took  the  journey 
to  the  West  which  some  passages  speak  of,  shipwreck, 
sickness,  or  accident  may  have  taken  him  from  the 
sight  of  men.  The  Canon  of  Muratori  mentions  the 
"  passion "  of  Peter,  but  not  that  of  Paul,  while  it 
speaks  of  "PauFs  journey  from  Rome  into  Spain'*  as 
the  last  act  of  his  life ;  and  to  this  view  the  passage  of 
Clement  (i.  5)  would  easily  fit.  He  no  longer  had  about 
him  the  shining  group  of  his  disciples ;  the  details  of 
his  death  would  remain  unknown ;  and  later  legend 
would  fill  out  the  blank,  keeping  in  view  the  rank  of 
Roman  citizen  given  him  in  *'Acts,"  and  at  the  same 
time  the  desire  of  the  Christian  heart  to  keep  true  the 

1  Rev.  ii.  2,  9;  iii.  9. 


I70  ANTICHRIST, 

parallel  between  him  and  Peter.  There  is  something 
that  mocks  us,  it  is  true,  in  the  mystery  that  shrouds 
this  stormful  apostle's  death.  It  might  be  interesting 
to  dream  of  Paul  doubting,  shipwrecked,  abandoned, 
betrayed  by  his  own,  solitary,  stricken  with  the  dis- 
enchantment of  old  age.  It  would  flatter  us  to  know 
that  the  scales  fell  from  his  eyes  a  second  time.  Our 
gentle  incredulity  would  have  its  mild  revenge  if  the 
most  dogmatic  of  men  had  passed  away  saddened, 
desponding  —  let  us  rather  say,  tranquil  —  on  some 
shore  or  highway  of  Spain,  saying,  "  I,  too,  have  gone 
astray."  But  this  is  allowing  too  much  to  mere  con- 
jecture. It  is  certain  that  neither  apostle  was  living 
in  the  year  seventy ;  they  did  not  behold  the  ruin  of 
Jerusalem,  which  would  have  impressed  Paul  so  pro- 
foundly. In  the  sequel  of  our  history,  then,  I  will 
assume  that  the  two  great  champions  of  Christian 
thought  disappeared  at  Rome  during  the  awful  tempest 
of  sixty-four.  The  death  of  James  was  a  little  more 
than  two  years  earlier.  Of  the  "  pillar-apostles  "  John 
only  now  remained.  Other  friends  of  Jesus  still  sur- 
vived at  Jerusalem,  but  forgotten,  and,  as  it  were,  lost 
in  the  on-coming  gloom  of  that  storm-cloud  into  which 
JudaBa  was  plunged  for  many  years. 

In  another  volume  I  shall  show  in  what  manner  the 
Church  completed  the  reconciliation  of  Peter  and  Paul, 
of  which  their  death  had  only  sketched  the  outline. 
Its  full  success  was  at  that  cost.  Seemingly,  the  Jew- 
ish Christianity  of  Peter  and  the  Hellenic  Christianity 
of  Paul  could  not  be  allied ;  but  each  was  needful,  that 
the  work  of  the  future  might  be  made  complete.  The 
one  represents  the  conservative  spirit,  without  which 
nothing  can  be  solid  3  the  other  represents  movement 


DEATH  OF  PETER  AND  PAUL,  171 

and  advance,  without  which  nothing  can  be  alive. 
Life  is  the  resultant  of  a  struggle  between  two  opposing 
forces.  Death  is  as  sure  from  the  lack  of  all  revolu- 
tionary breath  as  from  the  too  great  stress  of  the 
revolutionary  spirit. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

AFTER  THE   CRISIS.  —  A.  D.    64,    65. 

The  consciousness  of  a  community  of  men  is  like  the 
consciousness  of  one  man.  Every  impression  that  ex- 
ceeds a  certain  degree  of  energy  leaves  in  the  brain  a 
trace  which  is  like  a  wound,  and  keeps  it  long,  if  not 
always,  under  the  spell  of  an  hallucination  or  fixed 
idea.  The  bloody  episode  which  has  been  described 
had  equalled  in  horror  the  most  frightful  dreams  of 
which  a  sick  brain  is  capable ;  and  it  haunted  the 
Christian  imagination  for  many  years,  making  it  the 
prey  of  a  sort  of  vertigo,  tormenting  it  with  monstrous 
dreams,  so  that  a  cruel  death  seemed  the  fate  in  store 
for  all  the  faithful.^  But  is  not  this  very  thing  the 
surest  sign  that  the  last  great  day  draws  near  ?  The 
souls  of  the  victims  of  the  Beast  are  conceived  as  wait- 
ing beneath  God's  altar  for  the  holy  hour,  and  "  crying 
with  a  loud  voice  for  vengeance."  ^  The  angel  of  God 
appeases  them,  bidding  them  to  be  at  rest,  and  wait 
yet  a  little  longer,  for  the  time  is  near  when  their 
brethren  appointed  to  slaughter  will  be  slain  in  their 
turn.  Nero  will  take  care  of  that.  He  is  the  infernal 
monster  to  whom  God  will  yield  up  his  power  for  a 
season  while  the  catastrophe  draws  near,  who  will  then 
appear  as  a  terrifying  sign  in  heaven  on  the  evening 
horizon  of  the  latter  day.^ 

1  Rev.  vi.  11.  2  ijji^^  vi.  9^  10. 

^  See  Cyprian,  De  exhort,  mart.,  preface. 


AFTER    THE   CRISIS.  173 

The  air  was  as  it  were  steeped  everywhere  with  the 
martyr-spirit.  Nero's  court  seemed  filled  with  a  dis- 
interested hate  of  goodness.  From  end  to  end  of  the 
Mediterranean  it  was  a  death-struggle  of  right  and 
wrong.  That  hard  Roman  world  had  declared  war  on 
piety  in  every  form ;  and  piety  was  driven  to  forsake  a 
world  given  over  to  treachery,  cruelty,  and  debauch. 
Every  good  man  was  in  peril,  for  Nero's  malignant 
jealousy  against  virtue  had  reached  its  height.  The 
task  of  philosophy  was  to  fortify  its  votaries  for  torture. 
Seneca,  Thraseas,  Barea  Soranus,  Musonius,  Cornutus, 
—  all  have  undergone,  or  will  soon  undergo,  the  conse- 
quences of  their  bold  protest.  Death  by  the  execu- 
tioner seems  the  natural  fate  of  virtue.^  Even  the 
sceptic  Petronius,  because  he  is  a  gentleman,  cannot  live 
in  a  world  ruled  by  Tigellinus.  A  touching  echo  from 
the  victims  of  this  Terror  has  come  to  us  in  inscrip- 
tions from  an  island  of  religious  exile,  whence  no  one 
might  return.^  In  a  sepulchral  grotto  near  Cagliari,^  a 
family  of  exiles  (perhaps  worshippers  of  Isis)  *  has  left 
to  us  a  touching  and  almost  Christian  plaint.  As  soon 
as  these  unfortunates  arrived  in  Sardinia,  the  husband 
fell  sick  in  the  pestilential  air  of  the  island ;  the  wife 
(Benedicta)  besought  the  gods  that  she  might  be  taken 
in  his  place,  and  her  prayer  was  heard. 

Such  a  story  made  clear  the  futility  of  massacre. 
A  movement  in  a  narrow  aristocratic  circle  may  be 
stopped  by  a  few  executions  ;  but  not  so  a  popular 
movement,  which  needs  not  chiefs  or  learned  teachers. 

1  Seneca,  Letters  to  Lucilius,  passim. 

2  Tac.  Ann.  ii.  85.  8  Corp.  inscr.  gr.  5759. 

*  As  may  be  inferred  from  the  name,  or  rather  epithet,  Benedicta,  and 
the  sculptures  of  the  grotto. 


174  ANTICHRIST, 

A  garden  where  flowers  are  cut  up  by  the  root  per- 
ishes ;  but  a  mown  meadow  sprouts  more  vigorous 
than  before.  Thus  Christianity,  far  from  being  checked 
by  Nero's  wanton  cruelties,  put  forth  a  sturdier  growth 
than  ever.  Wrath  waxed  hot  in  the  heart  of  the  sur- 
vivors ;  and  the  one  thought  with  them  all  was  how 
they  might  come  to  be  masters  of  the  pagans,  and  rule 
them  with  a  rod  of  iron,  as  they  deserved.-^  A  confla- 
gration far  more  dreadful  than  that  with  which  they 
were  falsely  charged  should  destroy  that  city  of  in- 
iquity, which  had  become  the  temple  of  Satan.  The 
doctrine  of  the  final  destruction  of  the  world  by  fire 
struck  deeper  root  day  by  day.  Fire  alone  could  purge 
the  earth  of  the  crimes  that  soiled  it ;  fire  alone  seemed 
the  right  and  fit  end  of  such  a  mass  of  horrors. 

Most  of  the  Christians  at  Rome  who  had  escaped  the 
massacre  no  doubt  forsook  the  city.^  For  ten  or  twelve 
years  the  church  there  was  thrown  into  extreme  con- 
fusion, opening  a  wide  door  to  legend.  Still  the  life  of 
the  community  was  not  completely  broken  off.  The 
Seer  of  the  Apocalypse,  in  December  of  68  or  the  follow- 
ing January,  enjoins  upon  his  people  to  "  come  out  of  " 
the  wicked  city.^  Even  allowing  its  share  to  prophetic 
fiction,  it  is  hard  not  to  infer  from  these  words  that 
the  church  in  Rome  soon  recovered  its  importance. 
Only  the  leaders  quitted  for  good  a  place  where  their 
ministry  could  for  a  season  bear  no  fruit. 

The  province  of  Asia  Minor  was  the  one  part  of  the 
Roman  world  where  life  was  most  endurable  for  Jews. 


1  Rev.  ii.  26,  27. 

2  So  we  infer  from  Heb.  v.  11-14;  xiii.  24.     They  probably  made  up 
those  "  away  from  Italy  "  {oi  anh  tt)?  'iraVias)  addressed  in  this  epistle. 

»  Rev.  xviii.  4. 


AFTER   THE   CRISIS.  175 

Between  the  Jews  of  Rome  and  those  of  Ephesus  there 
was  constant  intercourse,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  case 
of  Aquila  and  Priscilla.  Hither  the  fugitives  now  fled, 
and  Ephesus  became  the  spot  where  the  effect  of  the 
Neronian  persecution  was  most  keenly  felt.  Here  was 
concentrated  the  animosity  against  Rome ;  and  here, 
within  about  four  years,  was  delivered  the  tremendous 
invective  by  which  the  Christian  conscience  answered 
back  to  the  atrocity  of  Nero. 

There  is  nothing  improbable  in  assuming  that  among 
the  Christian  leaders  who  escaped  from  Rome  was  in- 
cluded the  apostle  whom  we  have  seen  following  so 
closely  the  footsteps  of  Peter.  If  there  is  any  truth 
in  the  stories  of  what  happened  (as  was  afterwards 
believed)  near  the  Latin  gate,  we  may  suppose  that 
Jolin,  escaping  as  by  miracle,  left  the  city  at  once,  and 
in  that  case  he  would  naturally  take  refuge  in  Asia. 
His  residence  at  Ephesus  may  be  a  matter  of  doubt, 
like  most  incidents  in  the  lives  of  the  apostles ;  still, 
it  is  not  a  thing  unlikely  in  itself,  and  I  incline  rather 
to  accept  than  to  reject  it.^ 

1  The  chief  argument  is  from  the  Apocalypse.  If  this  was  written  by 
John  the  apostle,  the  case  is  clear.  If  by  one  who  wished  it  to  be  taken 
as  his  work, — supposing  him  in  that  case  to  have  died  before  68,  as  we 
could  hardly  admit  a  forgery  in  his  lifetime,  —  we  are  struck  by  the  cir- 
cumstance that  the  vision  is  represented  as  at  Patmos,  a  stopping-place 
for  those  going  to  or  returning  from  Asia.  It  is  especially  to  be  noted 
that  the  apostle  is  made  to  address  the  churches  in  Asia  as  having  a  cer- 
tain authority  among  them,  and  knowing  their  inner  life.  What  would 
have  been  the  effect  of  the  first  three  chapters  on  those  who  knew  that 
he  had  never  been  at  Patmos  or  among  them?  Dionysius  of  Alexandria 
(Euseb.  vii.  25)  saw  this  clearly,  and  assumes  that  the  writer  can  have 
been  no  other  than  one  of  the  apostles  who  had  been  in  Asia.  The 
alternative  is  that  the  writer  was  another  man  of  the  same  name  with  the 
apostle,  —  the  utilikeliest  theory  of  all. 

Direct  evidences  of  John's  abode  in  Ephesus  are  from  the  last  quarter 


176  ANTICHRIST, 

The  church  at  Ephesus  was  mixed,  a  part  being  of 
Pauline,  a  part  of  Judaeo-Christian  faith.  The  latter 
must  hold  the  ascendency,  now  at  the  arrival  of  the 
Roman  colony,  particularly  if  it  brought  a  personal 
follower  of  Jesus,  a  teacher  from  Jerusalem,  one  of 
those  eminent  leaders  before  whom  Paul  himself  would 
bow.  Since  Peter  and  James  were  gone,  John  was  the 
only  surviving  apostle  of  the  first  rank ;  he  had  come 
to  be  the  head  of  all  the  Judaeo-Christian  churches  ;  he 
was  held  in  extreme  deference ;  it  was  the  general  be- 
lief —  he  himself  had  said  it  —  that  Jesus  had  a  special 
love  for  him.  Many  a  tale  was  founded  upon  this 
fact ;  and  for  a  time  Ephesus  was  the  centre  of  Chris- 
tian life,  while  Rome  and  Jerusalem  were  almost  for- 
bidden abodes,  through  the  fury  of  the  time. 

There  was  soon  warm  contention  between  the  domi- 
nant party,  having  at  its  head  "  the  disciple  whom 
Jesus  loved,"  and  the  group  of  proselytes  gathered  by 
Paul,  which  spread  to  all  the  Asiatic  churches.-^  The 
air  was  filled  with  declamations  against  the  Balaam 
who  had  sown  scandal  among  the  sons  of  Israel,  —  had 
taught  them  they  might  associate  with  the  heathen 

of  the  second  century,  —  Apollonius:  Euseb.  v.  18;  Polycrates,  bishop  of 
Ephesus  (note  this):  id.  iii.  31;  v.  24;  Irenaeus,  ii.  22:  5;  iii.  1:  1;  3:  4; 
11 :  1;  V.  26:  1;  30:  1,  3;  33:  4;  Letter  to  Victor:  Euseb.  v.  24;  and  espe- 
cially the  letter  to  Florinus  in  Euseb.  v.  20  (testimony  of  great  weight, 
of  genuineness  hardly  to  be  doubted,  since  Waddington  has  fixed  the 
martyrdom  of  Polycarp  at  Feb.  23,  155  :  Mem.  de  VAcad.  des  inscr.  xxvi. 
233) ;  Clem,  of  Alex.  Quis  dives,  42 ;  Orig.  in  Matt.  xvi.  6 ;  0pp.  ii.  24 
(ed.  Delarue);  Dion,  of  Alex.:  Euseb.  vii.  25;  Euseb.  iii.  1,  18,20,  23, 
31,  39;  V.  24;  Chron.  ann.  98  ;  Epiph.  Ixxviii.  11 ;  Mart,  of  Ignatius,  i.  3; 
Jer.  De  vir.  ill.  9;  Adv.  Jov.  i.  26;  ad  Gal.  vi.  The  silence  of  Papias 
(Euseb.  iii.  39,  with  Chron.  ann.  98),  of  Hegesippus,  and  the  so-called 
letters  of  Ignatius,  is  a  serious  point,  as  is  also  the  very  old  confusion 
between  John  "the  apostle"  and  "the  elder."  See  Appendix. 
1  St.  Paul,  chap.  xiii. 


AFTER    THE   CRISIS.  177 

without  guilt,  or  marry  the  heathen  women.  John, 
on  the  other  hand,  was  more  and  more  looked  on  as  a 
Jewish  high-priest  (tepeus).  Like  James,  he  wore  the 
gold  plate  on  the  forehead  {TrijaXov)}  He  was  the 
Teacher  ;  he  even,  perhaps  from  the  incident  of  the  boil- 
ing oil,  came  to  be  called  Martyr. 

Among  the  fugitives  who  came  from  Rome  to  Ephe- 
sus,  Barnabas  appears  to  have  been  included  (see  be- 
low). Timothy  was  in  prison  at  this  time,  —  we  know 
not  where,  perhaps  at  Corinth,^  at  any  rate  not  far 
from  Ephesus,  —  but  was  set  free  after  a  few  months. 
As  soon  as  Barnabas  knew  of  his  release,  seeing  that 
quiet  was  restored,  he  bethought  him  of  returning  to 
Rome  with  Timothy,  whom  he  had  known  and  loved 
in  the  company  of  Paul.^  The  apostolic  group,  scat- 
tered by  the  persecution  of  64,  now  aimed  at  recon- 
struction. The  school  of  Paul  was  the  weaker,  being 
without  its  head,  and  sought  to  rest  on  the  solider  por- 
tion of  the  Church.  Timothy,  accustomed  to  yield,  had 
little  force  after  Paul's  death  ;  while  Barnabas,  who 
had  always  held  a  middle  path  between  the  parties, 
never  once  offending  against  charity,  came  to  be  the 
gathering  centre  for  the  fragments  after  the  great 
wreck.  This  admirable  man  was  thus  a  second  time 
the  restorer  of  Jesus'  work,  the  good  genius  of  harmony 
and  peace. 

In  circumstances  like  these,  as  I  think,  was  com- 
posed a  work  bearing  a  title  not  easy  to  explain,  "  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews."     It  would  seem  to  have  been 

1  Polycrates  in  Euseb.  iii.  31:3;  v.  24 :  3.  The  same  is  attributed  to 
Mark  in  apocryphal  documents  (A.  de  Valois  in  note  on  Euseb.  v.  24: 
p.  191);  see  Suicer,  Thes.  eccl  (s,  v.  TreraUv);  "St.  Paul,"  307. 

2  Heb.  xiii.  23.  »  Ibid.  xiii.  19,  23. 

12 


178  ANTICHRIST, 

written  at  Ephesus  by  Barnabas,  and  addressed  to  the 
church  at  Rome  (whence  that  church  seems  to  have 
been  always  better  informed  than  others  of  its  author- 
ship)/ in  the  name  of  the  little  community  of  Italian 
Christians  in  the  capital  of  Asia.  By  its  intermediate 
position,  at  the  meeting-point  of  various  tendencies 
that  had  not  so  far  been  well  harmonised,  this  epistle 
rightfully  belongs  to  that  man  of  reconciling  temper, 
who  often  prevented  those  diverse  tendencies  in  the 
young  community  from  coming  to  open  quarrel.  The 
opposition  between  churches  of  Jewish  and  pagan  ori- 
gin seems,  in  this  little  treatise,  to  be  resolved,  or 
rather  lost,  in  an  overflowing  flood  of  transcendental 
metaphysics  and  placid  charity.  As  I  before  remarked, 
a  taste  for  midrashim,  or  little  treatises  in  epistolary 
form,  had  become  well  established.  Paul  had  put  his 
whole  thought  into  "  Romans,"  and  *•'  Ephesians  "  had 
been  the  maturest  expression  of  his  later  doctrine. 
"  Hebrews "  appears  to  be  a  document  of  this  class. 
No  Christian  book  so  much  resembles  the  works  of  the 
Jewish  school  at  Alexandria,  especially  the  little  tracts 
of  Philo.  Apollos  had  already  tried  his  hand  at  the 
same  task,  and  has  even  been  thought  to  be  the  author 
of  "  Hebrews."  Paul,  while  in  prison,  had  greatly  de- 
lighted in  him.  Alexandrinism,  an  element  foreign 
to  Jesus,  was  gradually  winning  entrance  into  Chris- 
tian thought :  we  shall  presently  find  this  influence 
dominant  in  the  so-called  Johannine  writings.  In 
"  Hebrews,"  Christian  theology  takes  a  form  much  like 
that  we  have  found  in  the  later  style  of  Paul.  The 
theory  of  the  Divine  Word  {Logos)  is  rapidly  unfolding. 

^  See  Introduction.     The  first  epistle  of  Clement,  written  at  Rome 
about  95,  is  full  of  reminiscences  of  "  Hebrews." 


AFTER   THE    CRISIS.  179 

Jesus  becomes  more  and  more  "  the  second  divinity," 
the  metathronos  or  Associate,  the  First-born  on  God's 
right  hand,  inferior  to  Him  alone.  Under  existing  cir- 
cumstances, the  writer  expresses  himself  only  in  veiled 
words.  We  feel  that  he  dreads  to  compromise  the 
bearer  of  his  letter,  and  those  to  whom  it  is  sent : 
hence,  perhaps,  the  vague  title  "  Hebrews,"  and  the 
absence  of  personal  greetings  or  signature.  A  painful 
weight  burdens  him ;  his  secret  distress  betrays  itself 
in  hints  brief  and  deep. 

God,  he  says,  having  in  former  time  conveyed  his 
will  to  men  by  his  messengers  the  prophets,  has  in  these 
last  days  employed  the  ministry  of  his  Son,  by  whom 
he  made  the  worlds  (atwi/as),^  and  who  sustains  all  by 
his  word.  This  Son,  the  reflection  of  the  Father's 
glory,  and  the  image  of  His  essence,  whom  it  was  the 
Father's  pleasure  to  make  heir  of  all  things,  became 
the  ransom  of  sins  in  his  manifestation  to  the  world, 
and  is  now  returned  to  sit  in  heavenly  regions  on  the 
right  of  the  Most  High,^  in  rank  superior  to  angels. 
The  Mosaic  law  was  announced  by  angels,^  contain- 
ing only  the  shadow  of  good  things  to  come ;  while 
ours  was  delivered  by  the  Lord  himself,  with  proofs 
by  signs,  wonders,  miracles,  and  gifts  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  being  given  down  to  us  in  a  sure  manner  by 
those  who  heard  it  direct  from  him.  Through  Jesus 
all  men  have  been  made  sons  of  God.     Moses  was  a 

^  AlcDv  is  taken  here  in  the  sense  of  the  Hebrew  olam  (Phoen.  oulom^ 
Arab,  cilam)^  serving  as  transition  to  the  Gnostic  jEons. 

2  An  early  example  of  the  cabbalistic  style.     Comp.  Matt.  xxvi.  64. 

'  Gal.  iii.  19 ;  Acts  vii.  53.  The  theology  of  the  time  (as  we  see  in 
Greek  and  Chaldean  versions  of  the  Old  Testament  and  in  Josephus) 
used  the  term  "angels"  in  speaking  of  the  visible  manifestations  of 
Deity,  as  in  Deut.  xxxiii.  2. 


i8o  ANTICHRIST, 

servant ;  Jesus  is  the  Son,  and  is  our  especial  High-Priest 
of  the  order  of  Melchizedek/  —  an  order  far  higher 
than  the  Levitical,  which  it  has  abolished,  and  enduring 
forever.     Thus :  — 

He,  indeed,  is  such  a  high-priest  as  we  require,  —  holy, 
without  sin  or  blot,  apart  from  sinners,  exalted  above  the 
heavens,  who  need  not,  Hke  other  priests,  offer  sacrifice  daily 
for  his  own  sins,  and  then  for  those  of  his  people.  The 
old  law  appointed  as  high-priests  men  liable  to  error ;  the  new 
law  has  revealed  the  Son,  established  for  eternity.  .  .  .  Thus 
we  have  a  high-priest  who  sits  in  heaven  at  the  right  hand  of 
the  throne  of  God,  as  a  minister  of  the  true  sanctuary  and  the 
true  tabernacle  which  the  Lord  has  built.  Christ  is  the  high- 
priest  of  blessings  to  come.  ...  If  the  blood  of  bulls  and 
goats,  or  ashes  of  a  heifer,  sprinkled  on  the  unclean,  sanctify 
them  so  as  to  give  them  purity  of  the  flesh,  how  much  more 
shall  the  blood  of  Christ,  which  he  himself,  a  victim  without 
blemish,  has  offered  to  God,  purify  our  conscience  from  dead 
works !  .  .  .  For  this  end  he  is  the  mediator  of  the  new  testa- 
ment: now,  that  there  may  be  a  testament  (or  will),  the  death 
of  the  testator  must  first  be  proved,  since  a  will  has  no  effect 
so  long  as  tlie  testator  lives ;  and  the  original  stipulation  must 
be  made  good  by  blood.  ,  ,  .  ^y  blood  everything  is  made 
legally  clean ;  and  without  the  shedding  of  blood  there  is  no 
expiation.2 

We  are,  then,  sanctified  once  for  all  by  the  sacrifice 
of  Jesus,  who  will  appear  a  second  time  to  save  those 
who  look  for  his  coming.  The  sacrifices  of  old  never 
attained  their  end ;  they  must  be  continually  renewed. 
If  the  sacrifice  of  Atonement^  must  be  repeated  every 
year  on  a  fixed  day,  does  not  that  prove  that  the  blood 
of  victims  had  no  [lasting]   power  .f*     Instead  of  these 

1  Heb.  iv.  14-16.  2  lud.  ix.  11-22. 

^  Levit.  ch.  xvi. 


AFTER   THE   CRISIS.  i8i 

continual  burnt-offerings,  Jesus  has  made  his  own  one 
offering,  which  makes  the  others  needless.  Thus  there 
is  no  longer  any  question  of  sacrifice  for  sin.^ 

The  writer  deeply  feels  the  dangers  that  menace  the 
Church.  Before  his  eyes  is  an  unbroken  prospect  of 
suffering.  His  thought  is  filled  with  the  tortures  en- 
dured by  the  prophets  and  the  martyrs  of  Antiochus  in 
the  days  of  the  Maccabees.^  The  faith  of  many  is 
weakening ;  and  toward  such  weakness  his  words  are 
stern :  — 

It  is  impossible  that  those  who  have  once  been  enlightened, 
who  have  received  the  heavenly  gift  and  shared  the  Holy 
Spirit,  who  have  tasted  the  precious  word  of  God  and  the 
blessing  of  the  world  to  come,  and  then  have  fallen  away,  so 
as  to  crucify  the  Son  of  God  afresh  so  far  as  is  in  their  power, 
—  it  is  impossible  that  they  should  be  brought  again  to  repent- 
ance. Soil  which  yields  only  thorns  and  thistles  is  accounted 
bad  and  worthy  to  be  cursed,  and  must  be  burned  over  with 
fire.  .  .  .  God  surely  is  not  unjust,  and  he  will  not  forget 
your  good  deeds,  or  the  love  you  have  shown  to  his  name  by 
serving  his  saints,  as  you  have  done  and  still  do.  Increase 
your  zeal  to  the  end,  that  your  hopes  may  be  fulfilled ;  and 
follow  the  example  of  those  who  by  faith  and  perseverance 
have  conquered  the  promised  heritage.^ 

Some  of  the  members  were  already  growing  negli- 
gent in  attending  the  assemblies  of  the  Church.*  The 
writer  asserts  that  these  assemblies  are  of  the  very 
essence  of  the  faith :  it  is  here  that  the  disciples  ex- 
hort, rouse,  and  keep  watch  on  one  another;  and  in 
this  they  must  be  the  more  faithful  as  the  last  great 
day  approaches :  — 

1  Ileb.  ix.  23-28.  2  7;^^-^  ^i.  32-40;  xii.  1-11. 

8  lUd.  vi.  4-12.  *  Ibid.  x.  25. 


i82  ANTICHRIST. 

If  we  sin  wilfully  after  we  have  received  knowledge  of  the 
truth,  as  there  is  no  more  any  sacrifice  for  sin  henceforth,  we 
have  only  to  look  in  terror  for  the  fiery  judgment  which  will 
swallow  up  the  unfaithful.  It  is  a  dreadful  thing  to  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  living  God  !  ^  .  .  .  Remember  the  past  days, 
when,  after  you  were  enlightened,  you  endured  many  a  pain- 
ful conflict,  when  some  of  you  were  exposed  in  the  open 
theatre  2  to  torment  and  outrage,  or  again  when  you  were 
companions  of  those  who  so  suffered.  In  fact,  you  have 
shown  your  fellow-feeling  for  those  in  chains  (Seo-/xtoi9),  and 
have  gladly  suffered  the  plundering  of  your  goods,  knowing 
that  you  have  treasures  both  glorious  and  enduring.  Be  brave, 
that  you  may  obtain  the  reward  promised  you  !  Yet  a  little, 
a  very  little  time,  and  he  who  shall  come  will  come.^ 

Faith  sums  np  the  temper  of  the  Christian  soul.* 
Faith  is  the  resolute  looking  forward  to  that  which  is 
promised,  and  firm  assurance  of  that  which  is  not  seen. 
Faith  is  what  created  the  great  men  under  the  old  law, 
who  died  without  having  received  the  promised  bless- 
ing, having  only  foreseen  and  hailed  it  from  afar,  con- 
fessing themselves  strangers  and  pilgrims  on  the  earth, 
always  looking  for  a  better  country,  a  heavenly  one, 
which  they  did  not  find.  Here  the  writer  recites  the 
examples  of  the  ancient  w^orthies,  —  Abel,  Enoch,  Noah, 
Abraham,  Sarah,  Isaac,  Jacob,  Joseph,  Moses,  and  "  the 
harlot  Rahab  "  :  — 

And  what  more?  for  the  time  would  fail  me  to  tell  of 
Gideon,  Barak,  Samson,  Jephthah,  David,  Samuel,  and  the 
Prophets,  — who  by  faith  subdued  kingdoms,  dispensed  judg- 

1  Heb.  xi.  26-31. 

2  eXt^ftrii/  ^farpi^^/ifi/oi  may,  it  is  true,  be  a  metaphor;  still,  I  prefer 
to  regard  it  as  an  allusion  to  the  horrid  spectacles  of  ^^ero's  circus.  A 
similar  passage  in  Hermas  (vis.  iii.  2)  surely  refers  to  these  tortures  (see 
■post,  p.  306,  note  3). 

8  Heb.  X.  32-37.  *  Ihid.  ch.  xi. 


AFTER   THE  CRISIS.  183 

mcnt,  obtained  promises,  stopped  the  mouth  of  lions,  quenched 
the  fury  of  fire,  escaped  the  edge  of  the  sword,  recovered  their 
strength  from  sickness,  were  mighty  men  of  war,  putting  to 
flight  the  invasions  of  the  enemy.  .  .  .  Some  were  beaten  to 
death  with  clubs,^  not  consenting  to  release,  but  choosing 
before  life  a  better  resurrection ;  others  suffered  mocking, 
scourging,  chains,  or  the  dungeon ;  or  were  stoned,  sawn 
asunder,^  questioned  by  torture,  or  died  by  stroke  of  the 
sword ;  or  went  about  clad  in  sheepskins  and  goatskins,  des- 
titute, afflicted,  tormented,  —  of  whom  the  world  was  not 
worthy !  or  they  wandered  in  deserts  and  mountains,  in  dens 
and  caves  of  the  earth. 

All  these  holy  men,  though  fixed  in  their  faith,  did  not 
witness  the  fulfilment  of  the  promise ;  for  God  has  reserved 
some  better  thing  for  us,  not  choosing  that  without  us  their 
work  should  be  complete.  Since,  then,  we  are  surrounded  by 
so  great  a  cloud  of  witnesses,  let  us  persevere  in  the  struggle 
that  is  still  before  us,  looking  always  to  Jesus,  the  founder 
and  finisher  of  our  faith !  You  have  not  yet  resisted  unto 
blood  in  your  conflict  against  evil !  ^ 

The  writer  then  explains  to  the  confessors  that  the 
sufferings  they  endure  are  not  a  punishment,  but 
should  be  received  as  a  fatherly  discipline,  such  as 
one  administers  to  a  child,  a  pledge  of  his  own  tender- 
ness. He  urges  them  to  guard  against  a  temper  of 
levity,  like  Esau's,  bartering  their  heavenly  inheritance 
for  an  earthly  and  short-lived  privilege.  He  returns 
for  the  third  time  upon  his  favourite  thought,  that, 
after  a  fall  involving  the  desertion  of  Christianity, 
there  is  no  longer  a  chance  for  return.*     Esau,  too, 

^  TvfinaviCa  (to  beat  as  a  drum),  one  of  the  tortures  of  the  Maccabaean 
time. 

2  The  traditional  death  of  Isaiah.  «  Heb.  xi.  32-xii.  4. 

*  Ibid.  xiii.  16,  17,  25;  comp.  vi.  4-6;  x.  26,  27,  — passages  which 
later  played  a  great  part  in  the  Montanist  and  Novatian  controversies. 


1 84  ANTICHRIST. 

sought  to  reclaim  his  father's  blessing,  but  in  vain, 
spite  of  his  remorse  and  tears.  We  see  that  in  the 
Neronian  persecution  there  were  some  who  fell  away 
through  weakness,^  who  after  their  apostasy  would 
have  desired  to  return ;  and  this  teacher  would  have 
them  repelled.  What  blindness,  he  urges,  is  like  the 
Christian's,  who  shrinks  or  denies  when  he  has  once 
come  near  "  the  holy  mount  Zion,  and  the  city  of  the 
living  God,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  the  chorus  of  ten 
thousand  angels,  God  the  eternal  Judge,  the  church  of 
his  first-born,  the  spirits  of  the  just  made  perfect,^  and 
Jesus  the  mediator  of  the  new  covenant,  —  and  has 
been  purified  by  a  holier  blood  than  that  of  Abel  ?  "  ^ 

The  writer  ends  by  recalling  to  his  readers  those  of 
their  brethren  who  were  still  in  the  Roman  dungeons ;  * 
above  all,  the  memory  of  their  spiritual  leaders  who 
are  no  more,  —  those  great  founders  who  have  declared 
to  them  the  word  of  God,  and  whose  death  was  a  tri- 
umph for  the  faith.  Let  them  consider  the  end  of 
those  holy  lives,  and  they  will  be  strengthened.^  Let 
them  guard  against  false  doctrines,  especially  those 
which  make  holiness  consist  in  useless  ritual  forms, 
such  as  distinctions  of  food.^  Here  we  find  the  dis- 
ciple or  friend  of  Paul.  In  truth,  the  whole  epistle,  like 
all  of  Paul's,  is  a  long  demonstration  of  the  complete 
annulment  of  the  Mosaic  law.  To  bear  the  shame  of 
Jesus,  —  to  withdraw  from  the  world,  since  "  here  we 
have  no  abiding  city,  but  seek  one  which  is  to  come," 
—  to  obey  our  leaders  in  the  Church,  paying  them  due 

1  Cf.  Matt.  xxiv.  10. 

^  The  "  first-born,"  and  those  *'  made  perfect,'*  are  the  sufferers  in  the 
recent  persecution. 

8  Heb.  xii.  18-24.  *  Ihid.  xiii.  3. 

*  Ibid.  xiii.  7.  «  Ihid,  xiii.  9;  cf.  ix.  10. 


AFTER   THE  CRISIS,  185 

respect,  and  making  their  task  easy  and  pleasant, 
"  since  they  watch  over  souls  and  must  give  account 
of  them/'  —  this  is  the  rule  of  practice.  No  writing, 
perhaps,  better  shows  the  mystic  dignity  of  Jesus  ex- 
panding until  at  length  it  completely  fills  the  Christian 
conscience.  Not  only  is  he  the  Logos  by  whom  the 
worlds  were  made,  but  his  blood  is  the  universal  ran- 
som, the  seal  of  a  new  alliance.  The  author  is  so  full  of 
this  thought  that  he  makes  false  readings  in  order  to 
find  it  everywhere.  Thus,  in  the  Greek  copy  of  the 
Psalms,^  the  two  letters  n  in  the  word  coria  ("ears") 
were  a  little  blurred  ;  now,  reading  these  as  /i,  and 
taking  in  the  final  cr  of  the  word  before,  he  made  out 
o-w/xa  ("body"),  which  gives  an  excellent  messianic 
sense :  "  Sacrifice  and  offering  thou  didst  not  desire, 
but  a  body  hast  thou  prepared  for  me.  Then  I  said, 
Behold,  I  come,"  etc.* 

Strangely  enough,  in  the  Pauline  school  the  death  of 
Jesus  is  far  more  significant  than  his  life.  The  pre- 
cepts announced  beside  the  Lake  of  Galilee  have  no  in- 
terest for  this  school,  which  seems  hardly  to  have 
known  them.  In  the  foreground  it  sees  the  sacrifice 
of  Jesus,  who  devotes  himself  to  atone  for  the  sins  of 
the  world.  This  strange  conception,  put  afterwards  in 
the  sharpest  relief  by  Calvin,  wrenched  Christian  the- 
ology far  indeed  from  the  early  evangelical  ideal !  The 
'Synoptic  gospels,  which  are  the  really  divine  element 
in  Christianity,  have  nought  to  do  with  the  work  of 
Paul.      We  shall  soon  see   them  budding  forth  from 

1  Ps.  xl.  6.  He  can  have  known  little  of  any  tongue  but  Greek :  see 
e.  g.,  his  argument  on  diadrjio}  ["testament"],  considered  as  equivalent  to 
to  beritk  ["league,"  in  ix.  15-17]. 

2  Heb.  X.  5,  —  where  the  Hebrew  sense  is,  "ears  hast  thou  bestowed 
upon  me." 


i86  ANTICHRIST. 

that  little  humble  household  which  still  preserved  in 
Palestine  the  true  tradition  of  the  life  and  the  person 
of  Jesus. 

But  the  truly  admirable  thing  in  early  Christian  his- 
tory is  this :  that  those  who  tried  most  obstinately  to 
draw  the  car  of  progress  the  wrong  way  were  the  ones 
who  served  best  to  make  it  advance.     The  epistle  to 
the  Hebrews   marks   just  the  point,   in  the  religious 
development  of   mankind,   where   sacrifice  disappears, 
which  till  then  had  made  the  very  essence  of  religion. 
For  the  primitive  man,  God  is  an  all-powerful  being, 
whom  man  must  propitiate  or  else  bribe.     Thus  sacri- 
fice arose  from  fear,  or  else  from  interest.     To  win  his 
deity,  the  worshipper  offered  him  a  gift  such  as  might 
move  him, — a  fine  bit  of  meat,  rich  fat,  a  bowl  of 
soma  or  wine  :    says  Juvenal,   "  tenui  popano  corruptus 
Osiris.'"  ^     Disasters  and   diseases  were  thought  to  be 
inflictions  sent  by  an  angry  God ;  and  it  was  imagined 
that  by  putting  some  one  else  in  place  of  the  person 
threatened  the  wrath  of  the  higher  power  might  be 
turned  away;  possibly,  said  they,  the  god  may  even 
be  satisfied  with  an  animal,  if  it  is  useful,  innocent, 
and  good.     God  was  judged  by  the  pattern  of  man. 
Even  to-day,  in  some  parts  of  Africa  and  the  East,  the 
native  thinks  to  win  the  favour  of  a  stranger  by^fliiling 
a  sheep  at  his  feet,  wetting  his  boots  with  the  blood, 
and  serving  the  flesh  as  food ;  and,  just  so,  it  was  once 
thought  that  the  Divine  nature  must  be  impressed  by 
the  offering  of  an  object,  particularly  if  the  worshipper 
deprived  himself  of  something  really  valuable.     Until 
the  great  transformation  wrought  by  the  pro'phets  of 
the  eighth  century  before  Christ,  the  idea  of  sacrifice 

1  Sat.  vi.  541. 


AFTER   THE   CRISIS,  187 

among  the  Israelites  was  not  much  higher  than  that 
of  other  tribes.  A  new  era  began  when  Isaiah  cried  out 
in  Jehovah's  name,  "  Sacrifice  is  an  abomination  to 
me ;  I  delight  not  in  the  blood  of  bullocks,  lambs,  or 
goats  1  "  The  day  he  wrote  these  noble  words  (about 
740  B.  c),  Isaiah  was  the  true  forerunner  of  Chris- 
tianity. On  that  day  it  was  determined  that,  of  the 
two  rival  claimants  for  the  veneration  of  ancient  tribes, 
the  hereditary  priest  or  sorcerer,  and  the  inspired  book, 
thought  to  contain  secrets  of  the  Divine  mind,  the 
latter  would  control  the  future  of  religion.  The  sor- 
cerer i^whi)  of  the  Semitic  tribes  became  the  "  prophet," 
or  sacred  orator  of  the  people,  devoted  to  the  advance 
of  social  justice.  While  the  sacrificer  (priest)  continued 
to  vaunt  the  efficacy  of  slaughter,  so  profitable  to  him, 
the  prophet  dared  to  announce  that  the  true  God  cares 
far  more  for  justice  and  mercy  than  for  all  the  "  bul- 
locks" in  the  world.  Enjoined,  however,  by  antique 
ritual,  wliich  it  was  hard  to  set  aside,  and  sustained  by 
the  self-interest  of  priests,  sacrifice  continued  to  be  the 
law  in  ancient  Israel.  Toward  the  time  at  which  we  are 
now  arrived,  even  before  the  destruction  of  the  third 
Temple,  the  importance  of  this  rite  had  lessened.  The 
scattered  condition  of  the  Jews  led  them  to  regard  as  a 
secdTWary  thing  an  office  that  could  be  performed  only 
at  Jerusalem.^  Philo  had  declared  that  religious  wor- 
ship consisted  mainly  in  pious  hymns,  to  be  sung  rather 
with  the  heart  than  with  the  lips  ;  and  ventured  to  say 
that  such  prayers  were  of  more  worth  than  sacrifice.^ 
The  Essenes  held  the  same  view.^     Paul,  in  "  Romans  " 

^  See  Acts  xxiv.  17. 

2  De  plant.  Noe,  25,  28-31.     Comp.  Theophrast.  De  pietafe. 

8  Jos.  Ant.  xviii.  1:  5;  Philo,  Quod  omnis  prohus  liher^  12. 


1 88  ANTICHRIST, 

(xii.  1),  declares  that  religion  is  a  service  of  pure  reason 
{XarpeCa  XoyiKTj).  "Hebrews/'  in  unfolding  the  view 
that  Jesus  is  the  true  high-priest,  and  that  his  death  as 
a  sacrifice  abolished  all  others,  struck  the  last  blow  at 
bloody  offerings.  Christians,  including  those  of  Jewish 
origin,  gradually  ceased  to  regard  themselves  as  bound 
to  legal  sacrifices,  or  else  gave  place  to  them  only  as  a 
concession.  The  leading  idea  of  the  Mass  —  the  belief 
that  the  sacrifice  of  Jesus  is  incessantly  renewed  in  the 
ritual  act  of  the  Eucharist  —  is  already  perceptible,  but 
in  a  very  obscure  distance. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE   REVOLT   IN  JUD^A. — A.  D.  66. 

The  state  of  exaltation  through  which  the  Christian 
mind  was  passing  was  soon  disturbed  by  events  taking 
place  in  Palestine,  that  made  the  visions  of  the  wildest 
seers  look  reasonable.  A  feverish  crisis,  which  can  be 
compared  only  to  that  which  raged  in  France  during 
the  Revolution,  or  to  that  in  the  Paris  of  1871,  took 
entire  possession  of  the  Jewish  nation.  These  "  mala- 
dies divine,"  for  which  the  ancient  healing  art  confessed 
itself  powerless,  seemed  to  have  become  the  every-day 
condition  of  the  Jews.  One  would  have  said  that, 
being  determined  on  excess,  they  wished  to  go  as  far  as 
human  passion  could  carry  them.  This  strange  race, 
which  seems  made  on  purpose  to  defy  alike  him  who 
blesses  and  him  who  curses,  was  for  four  years  in  a 
convulsion,  in  presence  of  which  the  historian,  divided 
between  admiration  and  horror,  must  pause,  with  such 
emotion  as  he  feels  when  confronted  with  anything 
mysterious  and  unaccountable. 

The  causes  of  this  crisis  were  of  old  standing,  and 
the  crisis  itself  was  unavoidable.  The  Mosaic  Law  was 
the  work  of  Utopian  enthusiasts,  weakest  of  men  in 
political  judgment,  possessed  by  a  powerful  socialist 
ideal ;  and,  like  Islam,  it  barred  out,  absolutely,  any 
civil  society  running  parallel  to  the  religious  society. 
This  Law  seems  to  have  taken  the  formal  character  in 


[90 


ANTICHRIST, 


which  we  find  it,  during  the  seventh  century  before 
Christ ;  and,  even  without  the  Assyrian  conquest,  it 
would  have  blown  to  pieces  the  petty  monarchy  of  the 
house  of  David.  Ever  since  the  dominating  control 
assumed  by  the  prophetic  class,  the  kingdom  of  Judah 
—  embroiled  with  all  its  neighbours,  possessed  by  a 
standing  rage  against  Tyre,  in  deadly  feud  with  Edom, 
Moab,  and  Ammon  —  was  no  longer  capable  of  life.  A 
people  devoted  to  religious  and  social  problems  is 
doomed  as  a  political  society.  The  day  when  Israel 
became  "  a  peculiar  treasure  to  Jehovah,  a  kingdom  of 
priests,  a  holy  nation,''  ^  it  was  ordained  not  to  be  a 
people  like  any  other.  You  cannot  pile  together  con- 
tradictory destinies ;  a  superior  quality  is  always  bal- 
anced against  some  grave  defect. 

The  Persian  empire  gave  to  Israel  a  little  rest.  This 
vast  feudal  system,  tolerant  to  all  diversities  of  prov- 
ince, very  like  the  caliphate  of  Bagdad  or  the  Ottoman 
empire,  made  a  condition  in  which  the  Jews  found 
themselves  most  at  ease.  The  Egyptian  (Ptolemaic) 
domination,  of  the  third  century  B.  c,  seems  also  to 
have  been  quite  kindly  towards  them.  But  it  was  not 
so  with  the  sovereigns  of  Syria,  the  Seleucidae.  Antioch 
had  become  the  centre  of  an  active  Grecian  propaganda  ; 
Antiochus  Epiphanes  thought  himself  bound  to  estab- 
lish everywhere  the  image  of  Olympian  Jove  as  a  sign  of 
his  own  power.  Then  broke  forth  the  first  great  Jewish 
revolt  against  the  pagan  civilization.  Israel  had  pa- 
tiently endured  the  blotting  out  of  its  own  political 
existence  since  Nebuchadnezzar ;  but  it  kept  no  bounds 
when  its  religious  institutions  were  in  danger.  A  race 
in  general  unmilitary  was  seized  with  a  fit  of  heroism. 

1  Exod.  xix.  5,  6. 


THE  REVOLT  IN  JUD^A.  191 

Without  a  regular  army,  without  generals,  without 
military  skill,  it  defeated  the  Seleucids,  maintained  its 
revealed  right,  and  created  a  second  era  of  independ- 
ence. But  the  Asmonaean  monarchy  was  ever  under- 
mined by  profound  interior  vices ;  it  lasted  but  a  cen- 
tury. The  destiny  of  the  Jewish  people  was  not  to 
found  a  separate  nationality.  These  people  dreamed  of 
something  broader  than  the  nation;  its  ideal  is  not  the 
City,  but  the  Synagogue,  the  free  congregation.  It  is 
the  same  with  Islam,  which  has  created  an  immense 
empire,  but  has  destroyed  every  nationality  among  the 
peoples  whom  it  has  subdued,  and  leaves  to  them  no 
other  fatherland  than  the  mosque  and  the  monastery. 

We  often  call  such  a  social  state  by  the  name  "  theo- 
cracy." And  we  are  right,  if  we  mean  by  this  that  the 
central  thought  of  the  Semitic  religions  and  of  the 
empires  that  have  grown  from  them  is  the  sovereignty 
of  God,  conceived  as  sole  Lord  of  the  world  and  uni- 
versal King.  But  with  these  peoples  theocracy  does 
not  mean  the  reign  of  priests.  The  priest,  properly  so 
called,  plays  a  feeble  part  in  the  history  of  Judaism  or 
of  Islamism.  Power  belongs  to  the  representative  of 
God, — to  him  whom  God  inspires,  to  the  prophet,  the 
holy  man,  the  one  who  has  received  a  mission  from 
heaven,  and  who  proves  his  mission  by  miracle  or  by 
success.  In  lack  of  prophet,  power  belongs  to  the 
revealer  of  visions,  to  the  writer  of  apocryphal  books 
ascribed  to  ancient  prophets,  to  the  teacher  or  interpreter 
of  the  Law,  to  the  leader  of  the  Synagogue,  and  still  more 
to  the  head  of  the  Family,  who  is  guardian  of  the  sacred 
trust,  and  transmits  it  to  his  children.  Civil  power,  or 
royalty,  has  little  to  do  with  such  a  social  constitution, 
which  never  works  better  than  when  its  subjects  are 


192  ANTICHRIST, 

scattered,  as  tolerated  aliens,  throughout  a  great  empire 
having  no  uniform  administration.  Judaism  is  natu- 
rally submissive,  since  it  has  within  itself  no  resource 
of  military  power.  We  see  the  same  thing  among  the 
Greeks  of  our  own  day :  the  Greek  communities  in 
Trieste,  Smyrna,  and  Constantinople  are  far  more  flour- 
ishing than  the  petty  kingdom  of  Greece;  because 
these  communities  are  relieved  from  the  stress  of  po- 
litical agitation,  which  is  sure  to  ruin  a  race  full  of 
energy,  that  is  put  prematurely  in  possession  of  political 
independence. 

The  Roman  dominion,  established  by  Pompey  in 
Judaea  in  the  year  63  b.  c,  seemed  at  first  to  satisfy 
well  some  of  the  conditions  of  Jewish  life.  It  was  not 
at  this  time  the  practice  of  Rome  to  assimilate  in  its 
political  system  the  nations  successively  annexed  to  it. 
The  right  of  peace  and  war  was  taken  from  them,  and 
Rome  enforced  little  more  than  control  over  the  larger 
questions  of  their  politics.  Under  the  degenerate  succes- 
sors of  the  Asmonaeans,  and  under  the  Herods,  the 
Jewish  nation  retained  a  quasi-independence,  which 
ought  to  have  been  enough  for  it,  since  its  religious 
institutions  were  scrupulously  respected.  But  the  inner 
crisis  of  the  people  was  too  violent.  After  passing  a 
certain  stage  of  religious  fanaticism,  man  is  uncontrol- 
able.  It  must  also  be  said  that  Rome  tended  constantly 
to  make  its  power  more  heavily  felt  in  the  East.  The 
petty  subject  royalties,  at  first  maintained,  disappeared 
from  day  to  day,  and  the  provinces  were  merged  in  an 
imperial  power  pure  and  simple.  From  the  year  6 
A.  D.,  Judaea  was  ruled  by  governors  { procurator es)  sub- 
ject to  the  imperial  governors-general  {legcdi)  of  Syria, 
and  having  at  their  side   the  parallel  power  of  the 


THE  REVOLT  IN  JUD^A.  193 

Herods.  Such  a  mode  of  rule  was  unworkable,  as 
became  more  clear  from  day  to  day.  The  Herods  found 
little  honour  among  men  really  patriotic  and  devout. 
Roman  ways  of  administration,  however  reasonable  in 
themselves,  were  abhorrent  to  the  Jews.  In  general,  the 
Roman  power  showed  the  utmost  regard  for  the  petti- 
est scruples  of  the  nation.^  But  this  was  not  enough. 
Things  had  come  to  such  a  pass  that  nothing  could 
be  done  without  touching  upon  some  question  of  the 
canon.  Positive  religions,  like  Islamism  and  Judaism, 
do  not  admit  any  divided  authority.  If  they  have  not 
absolute  rule,  they  complain  of  persecution.  If  they 
find  themselves  protected,  they  become  exacting,  and 
try  to  make  life  unendurable  to  all  other  worships. 
This  is  clearly  seen  in  Algeria,  where  the  Israelites, 
knowing  themselves  to  be  protected  against  the  Mos- 
lems, treat  them  intolerably,  and  keep  the  authorities 
eternally  busied  with  their  mutual  complaints. 

Doubtless  there  was  wrong  on  both  sides,  as  I  freely 
admit,  in  the  hundred  years'  experiment  made  by 
Roman  and  Jew  to  live  together,  which  issued  in  so 
dreadful  a  catastrophe.  Several  of  the  governors  were 
thoroughly  bad  men ;  ^  others  may  have  been  hard, 
abrupt,  driven  to  exasperation  by  a  religion  that  thorned 
them,  whose  grand  future  they  knew  nothing  of.  It 
would  have  needed  perfection  itself  not  to  be  exas- 
perated by  that  narrow  and  haughty  temper,  that  hos- 
tility to  Greek  and  Roman  culture,  that  ill-will  to  all 
mankind,  which  a  surface-knowledge  took  to  be  the 

^  See  an  inscription  discovered  by  Mr.  Ganneau :  Rev.  arch.  Apr.- 
May,  1872;  Journal  A siatique,  Aug. -Sept.,  1872. 

2  See  the  proverb  on  the  justice  rendered  at  Caesarea  :  Midrash, 
Esther,  1  (init.). 

13 


194  ANTICHRIST, 

essence  of  a  Jew.  Besides,  what  could  a  magistrate 
possibly  think  of  subjects  always  trying  to  accuse  him 
before  the  emperor,  and  to  form  cabals  against  him 
even  when  he  was  perfectly  in  the  right  ?  In  that 
deep  hate  which  now  these  more  than  two  thousand 
years  has  prevailed  between  the  Jews  and  the  rest  of 
mankind,  which  party  was  first  to  blame  ?  The  ques- 
tion should  not  be  so  put.  In  such  a  case,  all  is  at 
once  action  and  reaction,  cause  and  effect.  Those  bar- 
rings-out, those  chained  gateways  of  the  Ghetto,  that 
distinctive  gabardine,  —  these  things  are  all  wrong; 
but  who  first  insisted  on  them  ?  It  was  those  who 
thought  themselves  defiled  by  contact  with  the  *'  gen- 
tiles ; "  those  who  demanded  for  themselves  to  be  kept 
apart  in  a  community  by  themselves.  Fanaticism 
wrought  the  chains,  and  fanaticism  has  been  redoubled 
by  the  chains,  hate  engendering  hate.  There  is  but  one 
way  of  escape  from  this  vicious  circle :  it  is  to  abolish 
the  source  of  hate,  —  that  mischievous  separation,  first 
sought  and  desired  by  the  sects,  which  afterwards  be- 
came their  reproach.  Regarding  Judaism,  France  in 
our  century  has  solved  the  problem.  By  throwing  down 
all  legal  barriers  built  about  the  Israelite,  it  has  taken 
away  what  was  narrow  and  exclusive  in  Judaism  —  its 
peculiar  customs  and  its  sequestered  life  —  so  com- 
pletely that  within  two  or  three  generations  a  Jewish 
family,  settled  in  Paris,  has  almost  ceased  to  lead  a 
Jewish  life. 

It  would  be  unfair  to  reproach  Romans  of  the  first 
century  for  not  having  done  the  same  thing.  Between 
the  Roman  empire  and  Jewish  orthodoxy  there  was 
radical  hostility.  In  this  hostility  Jews  were  oftenest 
insolent,   quarrelsome,   and   aggressive.     The   idea   of 


THE  REVOLT  IN  JUD^A,  195 

equity  in  common,  which  the  Romans  had  with  them 
in  germ,  was  hateful  to  strict  observers  of  the  Law 
{Torah),  who  asserted  a  morality  wholly  at  odds  with  a 
society  purely  secular,  untouched  by  theocracy,  like 
that  of  Rome.  One  was  the  founder  of  the  State,  the 
other  of  the  Church.  Rome  created  an  administration 
rational  and  worldly ;  the  Jews  attempted  to  inaugu- 
rate the  kingdom  of  God.  There  was  an  irrepressible 
conflict  between  this  narrow  but  fruitful  theocracy  and 
the  most  absolute  proclamation  of  the  secular  State 
that  was  ever  made.  The  Jews  had  their  law  built  on 
a  foundation  wholly  different  from  the  Roman  right, 
and  at  bottom  irreconcilable  with  it.  Until  they  had 
been  unmercifully  checkmated,  they  could  not  be  satis- 
fied with  mere  tolerance,  believing  as  they  did  that  in 
their  keeping  was  the  eternal  Word,  the  secret  of  the 
building  of  a  holy  city.  It  was  with  them  just  as  it  is 
with  the  Moslems  of  Algeria  to-day,  whom  our  social 
structure,  though  infinitely  superior,  inspires  only  with 
abhorrence.  Their  revealed  law,  at  once  civil  and  re- 
ligious, fills  them  with  pride,  and  makes  them  power- 
less to  accept  a  philosophic  legislation  founded  on  the 
one  principle  of  men's  mutual  relations.  Add  to  this  a 
profound  ignorance,  which  forbids  them  to  make  any 
estimate  of  the  forces  of  the  civilized  world,  and  blinds 
them  to  the  fatal  issue  of  the  war  into  which  they 
would  fain  plunge  with  a  light  heart. 

One  circumstance  had  much  to  do  with  keeping 
Judaea  in  a  state  of  permanent  hostility  against  the 
Empire :  namely,  that  the  Jews  took  no  share  in  mili- 
tary service.  Everywhere  else  the  legions  were  en- 
listed from  among  the  men  of  the  country ;  and  thus, 
with  armies  numerically  weak,  the  Romans  held  vast 


196  ANTICHRIST, 

regions.^  The  soldier  in  Roman  service  and  the  people 
of  the  region  were  fellow  country-men.  It  was  not  so 
in  Judaea.  The  legions  that  held  the  country  were 
recruited  mostly  in  Caesarea  or  Sebaste,  towns  at  enmity 
with  Judaism.  Thus  no  common  understanding  could 
exist  between  the  army  and  the  people.  The  Roman 
force  at  Jerusalem  was  fenced  off  in  barracks  apart,  as 
in  a  permanent  state  of  siege. 

Besides,  the  feelings  held  towards  Rome  by  the  various 
parties  in  the  Jewish  world  were  by  no  means  alike. 
Apart  from  worldlings  like  Tiberius  Alexander,  who 
had  grown  indifferent  to  the  old  worship  and  were 
regarded  as  traitors  by  their  fellow  religionists,  every 
one  (it  is  true)  was  unfriendly  to  the  foreign  masters; 
but  not  •  all,  by  any  means,  were  inclined  to  revolt.  In 
this  view,  four  or  five  parties  may  be  distinguished  in 
Jerusalem.^ 

First,  the  party  of  Sadducees  and  Herodians,  the 
residue  of  the  house  and  dependents  of  Herod,  the  great 
houses  of  Hanan  and  Boethus  in  charge  of  the  high- 
priesthood  :  these  made  a  world  of  epicureans  and  scep- 
tical voluptuaries,  hated  by  the  people  for  their  pride, 
their  ungodliness,  and  their  wealth.  This  party,  essen- 
tially conservative,  had  a  warrant  of  its  privilege  in 
the  Roman  occupation,  and,  with  no  good- will  toward 
the  Romans,  was  steadily  opposed  to  any  revolution. 

Second,  the  party  of  the  middle-class  Pharisees,  —  an 
honest  party,  made  up  of  men  of  sense,  steady,  quiet, 
orderly,  fond  of  their  religion,  keeping  its  forms  scru- 
pulously,  devoutly    even,    but    without    imagination ; 

^  See  the  curious  discourse  reported  of  Agrippa  II.  by  Josephus,  Wars, 
ii.  16  :  4. 

2  Josephus,  Wars,  ii.  16  :  4 ;  Life,  3. 


THE  REVOLT  IN  JUD.EA.  197 

fairly  intelligent,  acquainted  with  the  outside  world, 
and  seeing  clearly  that  revolt  could  end  only  in  the 
destruction  of  the  nation  and  the  Temple.  Josephus 
is  the  type  of  this  class,  whose  fate  was  that  which 
seems  to  be  always  in  store  for  the  moderates  in  times 
of  revolution,  —  impotence,  inconstancy,  and  the  su- 
preme humiliation  of  appearing  as  traitors  in  the  eyes 
of  the  majority. 

Third,  zealots  of  all  sorts,  —  fanatics,  armed  parti- 
sans (sicani),  assassins,  a  strange  mass  of  mendicant 
enthusiasts,  reduced  to  extremest  misery  by  Sadducee 
injustice  and  violence ;  men  regarding  themselves  as 
the  only  heirs  of  the  promise  made  to  Israel,  of  the 
"  poor  man "  beloved  of  God  ;  feeding  their  zeal  on 
prophetic  visions  such  as  ''  Enoch,'*  and  apocalypses  of 
violence ;  believing  that  the  kingdom  of  God  was  just 
about  to  be  revealed  ;  and  who  came  at  length  to  the 
intensest  exaltation  of  which  history  makes  mention. 

Fourth,  brigands,  vagabonds,  adventurers,  desperate 
freebooters,  sprung  from  the  complete  social  disinte- 
gration of  the  country.  This  sort  of  men,  mostly  of 
Idum^ean  or  Nabathaean  origin,  recked  little  of  any 
religious  motive ;  but  they  were  fomenters  of  disorder, 
and  were  natural  allies  of  the  Zealots. 

Lastly,  pious  dreamers,  Essenes,  Christians,  Ebionim, 
quietly  waiting  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  devotees 
gathered  about  the  Temple,  praying  and  weeping.  Of 
these  were  the  followers  of  Jesus ;  but  they  were  still 
of  so  little  account  in  the  public  eye  that  Josephus 
takes  no  note  of  them  among  the  parties  to  the 
struggle,  nor  does  Justus  of  Tiberias,  who  also  wrote 
the  story  of  Jewish  War.^     We  see  at  once  that  in  the 

1  Photius,  Biblioth.,  cod.  33. 


198  ANTICHRIST, 

day  of  peril  these  pious  folk  can  only  flee.  The  spirit 
of  Jesus,  full  as  it  was  of  a  divine  power  to  withdraw 
man  from  the  world  and  give  him  comfort,  could 
not  inspire  the  narrow  patriotism  of  the  fighter  and 
the  hero. 

The  fanatics  would  naturally  hold  the  balance  of 
power.  The  democratic  and  revolutionary  vein  of 
Judaism  stood  out  among  them  in  an  appalling  degree. 
They  were  convinced  that  all  power  has  its  root  in 
evil ;  that  royalty  is  a  work  of  Satan,  —  which  theory 
was  but  too  well  justified  by  the  examples  of  sover- 
eigns like  Caligula  and  Nero,  real  devils  incarnate ; 
and  they  would  rather  be  chopped  to  pieces  than  give 
the  title  of  master  to  any  other  than  God.^  Imitating 
Mattathias,  the  first  of  Zealots,  who  killed  a  Jew  whom 
he  saw  sacrificing  to  idols,^  they  avenged  their  God 
by  dagger-strokes.  Merely  to  hear  one  uncircumcised 
speak  of  God  or  the  Law  was  provocation  enough  to 
seize  on  him  unawares,  and  then  offer  him  the  choice 
of  circumcision  or  death.^  Claiming  to  execute  those 
mysterious  sentences  which  are  left  to  the  "hand  of 
God,"  and  holding  themselves  bound  to  put  in  effect 
the  dreadful  penalty  of  excommunication,  which  meant 
outlawry  and  death,  as  the  Hebrew  formula  implies,* 
they  made  an  army  of  terrorists,  whose  revolutionary 
temper  was  at  boiling  heat.  It  might  be  seen  in 
advance  that  such  men's  distempered  conscience,  inca- 
pable to  distinguish  their  own  gross  passions  from  a 
mood   which    their    fanatic    fury  would    count    holy, 

1  Like  Judas  the  Gaulonite.     See  *'  Life  of  Jesns,*'  pp.  120-122. 

2  1  Mace.  ii.  27.  «    PMloaophumena,  ix.  2fi. 

*  See   Journal   Asiatique,  Aug.-Sept.  1872,  p.  178;   also  Jos.    WarSj 
ii.  8:  8  ;  and  compare  the  formulas  D'DK^  "T^,  etc. 


THE  REVOLT  IN  JUD^A.  199 

would  go  on  to  the  last  excess,  and  be  checked  at  no 
degree  of  madness. 

Minds  were  under  the  spell  of  a  kind  of  permanent 
hallucination.  Terrifying  rumours  were  in  circulation 
everywhere.  Men  dreamed  only  of  signs  and  omens ; 
the  apocalyptic  hue  of  Jewish  fancy  stained  everything 
with  a  bloody  halo.  Comets,  swords  in  the  sky,  battles 
in  the  clouds,  light  breaking  forth  of  itself  by  night 
from  the  depth  of  the  sanctuary,  victims  at  the  moment 
of  sacrifice  bringing  forth  a  monstrous  progeny, — these 
were  the  tales  told  with  horror  from  mouth  to  mouth. 
One  day  the  vast  brazen  gates  of  the  Temple  had 
flown  open  of  themselves,  and  refused  to  close.  At  the 
Passover  of  A.  d.  65,  about  3  A.  m.,  the  Temple  was  for 
half  an  hour  lighted  as  bright  as  day :  some  thought 
that  it  was  on  fire.  Again  at  Pentecost,  the  priests 
heard  a  sound  as  of  many  persons  in  the  interior, 
making  hasty  preparations  as  if  for  flight,  and  saying 
to  one  another,  "  Let  us  depart  hence  ! "  ^  All  this 
was  not  reached  till  later;  but  the  great  disturbance 
of  mind  was  itself  the  best  of  signs  that  something 
extraordinary  was  about  to  happen. 

Messianic  prophecies,  more  than  anything  else,  roused 
among  the  people  a  resistless  craving  for  excitement. 
One  does  not  resign  himself  to  a  humble  sphere  when 
he  is  looking  forward  to  royal  power  in  the  near  future. 
For  the  multitude,  all  messianic  theories  were  summed 
up  in  a  single  text,  said  to  be  taken  from  Scripture : 
"  At  that  time  a  Prince  shall  come  forth  from  Judah 
who  shall  have  rule  over  all  the  earth."  ^     In  vain  do 

^  Jos.  Wars,  ii.  22:  1;  vi.  5:  3,  4;  Tac.  Hist.  v.  13;  Bab.  Talm.  Pesa- 
chim,  57  a :  Kerifhotk,  28  a ;  loma,  39  b. 

2  Jos.  iJ.  vi.  5:  4;  Suet.  Vesp.  4,  5;  Tac.  Hist.  v.  13. 


200  ANTICHRIST. 

we  reason  against  an  obstinate  hope.  Evidence  is  help- 
less to  contend  with  the  chimera  which  a  people  has 
once  heartily  embraced  with  all  its  strength. 

Gessius  Florus  had  succeeded  Albinus  as  governor 
of  Judaea  near  the  end  of  64  or  at  the  beginning  of  65. 
He  seems  to  have  been  a  really  bad  man ;  and  he  owed 
his  office  to  the  influence  of  his  wife  Cleopatra,  a  friend 
of  Poppaea.^  The  ill-feeling  between  him  and  the  Jews 
soon  rose  to  the  topmost  height  of  fury.  The  Jews 
wore  him  out  by  their  testiness,  their  incessant  com- 
plaining about  trifles,  and  their  disrespect  for  civil  or 
military  authority ;  but  he,  on  his  part,  took  delight  in 
nagging  them,  and  in  doing  it  ostentatiously.  On  the 
sixteenth  or  seventeenth  of  May,  66,  there  was  a  brush 
between  his  forces  and  the  populace,  on  some  slight 
grounds  ;  and  Florus  withdrew  to  Caesarea,  leaving  only 
one  cohort  in  the  tower  Antonia,  —  a  very  blameworthy 
course.  An  armed  force  should  be  in  the  town  it 
holds,  and,  when  there  are  signs  of  revolt,  not  leave  it 
to  the  fury  of  its  passions  without  first  exhausting  all 
means  of  resistance.  If  Florus  had  kept  himself  in  the 
city,  it  is  likely  that  the  revolt  would  not  have  forced 
his  hand,  and  the  disasters  that  followed  might  have 
been  avoided.  When  he  was  once  out  of  the  way,  it 
was  sure  that  the  Roman  army  would  not  re-enter 
Jerusalem  but  through  conflagration  and  slaughter. 

i  Jos.  Antiq.  xx.  11:  1;  Wars,  ii.  14:  2,  3.  Josephus  is  certainly  hos- 
tile to  Florus,  and  writes  with  a  bias  to  prove  his  point.  His  theory  is: 
(1)  that  the  war  was  forced  upon  the  Jews  by  his  excesses  ("he  compelled 
us  to  take  up  arms,"  etc. :  Ant.  xx.  11:  1) ;  (2)  that  it  was  not  the  act  of 
the  nation,  but  of  a  band  of  robbers  and  assassins,  who  ruled  the  situation 
by  terror.  We  must  be  on  our  guard  against  misstatements  resulting 
from  his  theory.  Tacitus,  however  {Hist.  v.  9,  10),  seems  to  agree  with 
him  regarding  Florus,  at  least,  throwing  heavy  responsibility  on  the 
procurators.     Florus  was  from  Clazomense. 


THE  REVOLT  IN  JUDuEA.  201 

Still,  the  retreat  of  Florus  was  far  from  bringing  on 
an  open  break  between  the  city  and  the  Roman  power. 
Agrippa  II.  and  Berenice  were  now  at  Jerusalem. 
Agrippa  honestly  tried  to  keep  down  violence ;  all  the 
moderates  joined  with  him ;  and  appeal  was  even  made 
to  the  popularity  of  Berenice,  in  whom  the  popular 
fancy  thought  to  find  again  her  great-grandmother 
Mariamne,  the  Asmonaean  princess.  While  Agrippa 
harangued  the  crowd  from  the  colonnade,  the  princess 
showed  herself  on  the  palace-balcony,  which  looked 
down  upon  it.  All  was  in  vain.  Men  of  sense  might 
urge  that  war  would  be  the  sure  ruin  of  the  nation ; 
but  they  were  held  to  be  men  of  little  faith.  Agrippa, 
in  despair  or  else  in  terror,  fled  from  the  city,  and 
withdrew  to  his  estates  in  Batan£ea.  A  troop  of  the 
more  violent  set  out  at  once,  and  captured  by  surprise 
the  fortress  of  Masada,^  on  the  border  of  the  Dead 
Sea,  two  days'  journey  from  Jerusalem,  and  well-nigh 
impregnable.^ 

This  was  an  act  of  open  hostility.  The  conflict  in 
Jerusalem  raged  more  fiercely,  day  by  day,  between 
the  peace-party  and  those  clamorous  for  war,  —  the 
former  composed  of  the  rich,  who  had  everything  to 
lose  in  an  overthrow  ;  the  other  including,  besides  sin- 
cere enthusiasts,  that  penniless  crowd  of  a  city  popula- 
tion to  which  a  state  of  revolution  offers  the  hope  of 
gain  by  the  mere  upsetting  of  every-day  conditions. 
The  moderates  leaned  on  the  little  Roman  garrison, 
lodged  in  the  tower  Antonia.  The  high-priest  was  an 
obscure  man,  one  Matthias,  son  of  Theophilus.^     Since 

1  Saulcy,  Voyage^  etc.,  i.  199 ;  pi.  11-13 ;  Rey,  Voy.  dans  le  Haourauj 
284 ;  pi.  25,  26. 

2  Jos.  Wars,  ii.  14-16.  »  Jos.  Antiq.  xx.  9:  7. 


202  ANTICHRIST, 

the  deposition  of  the  younger  Hanan,  who  had  put  the 
apostle  James  to  death,  it  seems  to  have  been  the  prac- 
tice to  select  the  high-priest  outside  the  powerful 
houses  of  Hanan,  Cantheras,  or  Boethus.  The  real 
chief  of  the  priestly  party  was  the  old  high-priest 
Ananias,  son  of  Nabadaeus,-^  a  man  of  wealth,  ener- 
getic, unpopular  because  of  his  pitiless  severity  in 
pressing  his  own  claims,  especially  hated  from  the  in- 
solence and  rapacity  of  his  lackeys.  A  son  of  this 
Ananias,  Eleazar,  led  the  party  of  action,  —  a  circum- 
stance not  rare  in  revolutionary  times,  disproving  the 
theory  of  Josephus,  who  asserts  that  the  war  party  was 
made  up  only  of  robbers  and  young  men  greedy  of 
plunder.  Eleazar  held  the  important  post  of  captain 
of  the  Temple,  and  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  sin- 
cere religious  enthusiasm.  He  carried  to  the  extreme 
the  principle  that  sacrifice  might  be  offered  only  by 
and  for  Jews ;  and  forbade  the  customary  vows  for 
the  emperor  and  the  prosperity  of  Rome.^  All  the 
youth  were  full  of  ardour;  for  religious  fanaticism 
among  Semitic  peoples  is  most  violent  in  the  young,  — 
with  the  Moslems,  even  in  children  of  ten  or  twelve. 
Members  of  old  priestly  families,  Pharisees,  and  reason- 
able men  in  general,  of  fixed  habits,  saw  the  danger. 
Teachers  of  authority  were  put  forward,  and  consulta- 
tions were  held  with  Rabbis,  and  arguments  were  urged 
from  canon  law,  but  all  to  no  effect ;  for  it  was  clear 
that  the  lower  class  of  priests  were  already  making 
common  cause  with  Eleazar  and  the  Zealots. 

The  higher  priesthood  and  the  aristocracy,  in  despair 
of  gaining  any  hold  upon  the  populace,  which  was  car- 

1  See  "  Saint  Paul,"  ch.  xix. 

2  Bab.  Talm.  Gitiin,  56  h ;  Tosiphtha,  Shahhath,  17. 


THE  REVOLT  IN  JUD^A.  20^ 

ried  away  by  mere  surface  excitement,  sent  to  entreat 
Florus  and  Agrippa  that  they  would  make  haste  to 
crush  the  insurrection,  pointing  out  to  them  that  it 
would  soon  be  too  late.  Florus,  says  Josephus,  wished 
a  war  of  extermination,  which  would  wholly  blot  out 
the  Jewish  race  from  the  earth  ;  and  would  make  no 
reply.  Agrippa  sent  a  body  of  three  thousand  mounted 
Arabs  to  relieve  the  party  of  order,  who,  with  this 
body  of  horse,  held  the  upper  town,  now  the  Armenian 
and  Jewish  quarter.^  The  "  party  of  action  "  occupied 
the  Temple  and  the  lower  town,  now  the  Mussulman 
quarter,  with  the  mogharihi,  the  hararriy  etc.  Between 
them  there  was  open  war.  On  the  14th  of  August  the 
revolutionaries,  led  by  Eleazar  and  Menahem,  —  son  of 
Judas  the  Gaulonite,  who  sixty  years  before  had  stirred 
up  the  Jews  by  proclaiming  that  the  true  worshipper 
of  God  can  owe  allegiance  to  no  man,  —  stormed  the 
upper  town,  burning  the  house  of  Ananias,  with  the 
palaces  of  Agrippa  and  Berenice.  Agrippa's  mounted 
Arabs,  with  Ananias,  his  brother,  and  all  the  men  of 
mark  who  could  join  them,  retreated  to  the  highest 
grounds  of  the  Asmonsean  palace. 

Next  day  the  insurgents  attacked  the  tower  Antonia, 
which  they  took  within  two  days,  setting  fire  to  it. 
They  then  attacked  and  stormed  the  upper  palace 
(September  6),  the  Arab  horsemen  being  allowed  to 
depart,  while  the  Romans  shut  themselves  up  in  the 
three  towers,  Hippicus,  Phasael,  and  Mariamne.  Ana- 
nias and  his  brother  were  slain.^  As  in  all  popular 
movements,  discord  soon  broke  out  among  the  chiefs 

^  For  the  topography,  see  Vogii^,  Van  de  Velde,  Saulcy,  Wilson  (^Ord- 
nance Survey,  1804,  1865);  with  atlas  (Menke,  Smith,  and  others). 
2  Compare  Acts  xxiii.  2,  3. 


2b4  ANTICHRIST, 

of  the  victorious  party.  Menahem  made  himself  in- 
sufferable by  his  pride  as  an  upstart  demagogue ;  and 
Eleazar,  son  of  Ananias,  enraged  at  the  assassination  of 
his  father,  followed  him  up  and  killed  him.  The  rem- 
nants of  Menahem' s  faction  then  took  refuge  at  Masada, 
which,  till  the  war  ended,  continued  the  outpost  of  the 
fiercest  Zealots. 

The  Romans  held  out  long  in  their  three  towers, 
and  when  reduced  to  extremities,  bargained  only  for 
their  lives.  Safe  conduct  was  promised  them  ;  but,  as 
soon  as  they  laid  down  their  arms,  Eleazar  slew  them 
all  except  Metilius,  file-leader  {primipilaris)  of  the  co- 
hort, who  consented  to  be  circumcised.  Thus  Jerusalem 
was  lost  to  the  Romans  toward  the  end  of  September, 
66,  a  little  over  one  hundred  [129]  years  after  it  was 
taken  by  Pompey.  Fearing  that  retreat  might  be  cut 
off,  the  Roman  garrison  in  the  fortress  of  Machaerus  sur- 
rendered. The  stronghold  of  Kypros,  overlooking  Jeri- 
cho,^ fell  also  into  the  hands  of  the  insurgents,^  who 
probably  at  this  time  occupied  Herodium.^  The  weak- 
ness shown  by  the  Romans  in  these  events  is  perplex- 
ing, and  gives  some  colour  to  the  opinion  of  Josephus, 
that  Florus  meant  to  force  matters  to  extremities.  It 
is  true  that  the  first  steps  of  revolt  have  something 
about  them  bewildering,  which  makes  them  very  hard 
to  check,  so  that  cooler  heads  prefer  to  let  them  alone, 
to  perish  of  their  own  excesses. 

Within  five  months  the  insurrection  had  thus  got  a 
formidable  foothold.  Not  only  had  it  mastered  the  city 
of  Jerusalem,  but,  by  way  of  the  desert  of  Judah,  it  was 
in  touch  with  the  Dead  Sea  region,  where  it  held  every 

1  Ritter,  Erdkunde,  xv.  458,  459. 

2  Jos.  Wars,  i.  21:  9  ;  ii.  17,  18:  6.  »  Ibid.  iv.  9:  5;  vii.  6:  1. 


THE  REVOLT  IN  JUD^A,  205 

stronghold,  and  thus  lent  a  hand  to  the  Arabs  and 
Nabathseans,  who  were  more  or  less  openly  enemies  of 
Rome.  Judaea,  Idumaea,  Peraea,  and  Galilee  sided  with 
the  insurrection.  In  Rome,  during  this  time,  an  odious 
tyrant  gave  over  the  empire  to  be  administered  by  the 
most  worthless  and  incapable  agents.  If  the  Jews  had 
succeeded  in  gathering  about  them  all  the  disaffected 
populations  of  the  East,  it  was  all  over  with  the  Roman 
dominion  in  that  part  of  the  world.  Unhappily  for 
them,  the  result  was  just  the  opposite:  their  revolt 
inspired  the  inhabitants  of  Syria  with  twice  their  fidel- 
ity to  the  empire.  The  hate  they  had  enkindled  in 
their  neighbours  was  enough,  during  this  period  of 
paralysis  to  the  Roman  power,  to  stir  up  against  them 
other  enemies  at  least  as  dangerous  as  the  legions. 


CHAPTER  XL 

MASSACRES   IN   SYKIA  ANB   EGYPT.  —  A.  D.  66. 

A  GENERAL  word-of-command,  as  it  were,  seems  just 
now  to  have  run  through  the  East,  everywhere  inviting 
great  massacres  of  Jews.  Jewish  life  was  proving  it- 
self more  and  more  to  be  incompatible  with  Greek  or 
Roman  life.  Each  of  the  two  races  sought  to  extermi- 
nate the  other,  and  between  them  was  no  quarter.  To 
understand  the  conflict,  we  must  first  have  seen  how 
far  Judaism  pervaded  the  entire  eastern  portion  of  the 
Empire.  "  They  have  invaded  every  city,"  says  Strabo, 
"  and  it  is  hard  to  find  a  place  in  the  world  that  has 
not  received  this  tribe,  or,  more  correctly,  accepted  its 
domination  (eViAcparerrai).  Egypt,  the  land  of  Cyrene, 
and  many  others,  have  adopted  their  customs,  scrupu- 
lously observe  their  rules,  and  find  great  profit  in  keep- 
ing their  national  laws.  In  Egypt  they  have  legal 
residence,  and  a  great  part  of  the  city  of  Alexandria  is 
assigned  to  them :  they  have  their  ethnarch,  who  at- 
tends to  their  affairs,  administers  justice  among  them, 
oversees  the  execution  of  contracts  and  wills,  just  as  if 
he  were  the  chief  magistrate  of  an  independent  State.'*  ^ 
Two  elements  as  opposite  as  fire  and  water  could  not 
mingle  thus  without  constant  danger  of  most  awful 
explosions. 

We  must  not  lay  these  to  the  account  of  the  Roman 
government.    Massacres  just  as  awful  took  place  among 

^  Quoted  by  Josephus,  Antiq.  xiv.  7:2. 


MASSACRES  IN  SYRIA   AND  EGYPT,  izo; 

the  Parthians^^  where  the  situation  and  policy  were 
quite  different  from  those  in  the  West.  One  of  the 
glories  of  Rome  is  to  have  founded  its  empire  on  peace, 
and  the  suppression  of  local  wars.  Rome  never  prac- 
tised that  detestable  method  of  government  —  one  of 
the  political  secrets  of  the  Turkish  empire  —  which 
consists  in  setting  the  various  mixed  populations  in 
subject  countries  against  one  another.  As  to  massacre 
on  religious  grounds,  the  idea  of  it  was  as  far  as  possi- 
ble from  the  Roman  mind.  The  Roman,  unknowing  of 
all  theology,  never  understood  the  meaning  of  sect,  or 
how  there  could  possibly  be  division  on  so  small  a  mat- 
ter as  speculative  opinion.  Besides,  antipathy  against 
Jews  was  so  universal  in  the  ancient  world  that  there 
was  no  need  of  pressing  it.  This  antipathy  makes, 
as  it  were,  a  boundary-trench  among  men,  which  per- 
haps will  never  be  filled.  It  results  from  something 
else  than  difference  of  race.  It  is  the  hate  between 
different  classes,  or  social  offices,  in  mankind,  —  the 
man  of  peace,  content  with  home-delights,  and  the  man 
of  war ;  the  merchant  or  the  shopman  and  the  peasant 
or  the  noble.  It  cannot  be  without  reason  that  un- 
happy Israel  has  been  ever  the  victim  of  slaughter. 
When  every  nation  and  every  age  has  persecuted  you, 
there  must  needs  be  some  motive  behind.  Down  to 
our  day  the  Jew  has  pushed  his  way  everywhere,  claim- 
ing the  common  right.  But,  in  fact,  the  Jew  would 
never  stand  upon  common  right ;  he  would  hold  to  his 
peculiar  law ;  he  insisted  upon  the  privileges  open  to 
all,  and  his  own  exceptional  privileges  into  the  bargain. 
He  claimed  the  advantages  of  nationality  without  being 
of  any  nation,  or  sharing  the  burdens  and  duties  of  a 

1  Jos.  Ant.  xviii.  9. 


2o8  ANTICHRIST, 

nation.  No  people  could  ever  tolerate  that.  A  nation 
is  in  essence  a  military  structure ;  it  is  founded  and 
sustained  by  the  sword;  it  is  the  work  of  the  soldier 
and  the  peasant ;  it  is  what  Jews  have  aided  in  noth- 
ing to  establish.  This  is  the  one  great  misunderstand- 
ing in  regard  to  Israeli tish  demands.  The  tolerated 
foreigner  may  be  of  service  to  a  country,  but  on  con- 
dition that  the  country  does  not  allow  him  to  interfere 
in  its  affairs.  There  is  no  justice  in  claiming  family 
rights  in  a  house  you  have  not  built,  —  like  a  bird  that 
appropriates  another's  nest,  or  a  hermit-crab  (called 
by  fishermen  ^Hhe  thief"),  which  lodges  in  a  cockle- 
shell.^ 

The  Jew  has  rendered  to  the  world  so  many  good 
and  so  many  ill  services,  that  we  can  never  quite  do 
him  justice.  We  owe  him  so  much,  and  at  the  same 
time  see  his  faults  so  plainly,  that  we  are  vexed  at  the 
sight  of  him.  This  everlasting  Jeremiah,  this  "  man 
of  sorrows,"  always  complaining,  offering  his  back  to 
the  smiters  with  an  exasperating  patience,  —  this  being, 
strange  to  all  our  instincts  of  honour,  pride,  glory,  deli- 
cacy, or  taste,  —  this  man  so  unsoldierly,  so  unknightly, 
who  cares  nothing  for  Greece,  Rome,  or  Germany,  to 
whom  we  yet  owe  our  religion  so  truly  that  he  has 
the  right  to  say  to  a  Christian,  "  Thou  art  but  an  adul- 
terated Jew,"  —  this  man  has  been  set  as  a  target  to 
contradiction  and  antipathy :  a  fruitful  antipathy,  which 
has  made  one  element  in  the  progress  of  mankind ! 
In  the  first  century  of  our  era,  the  world  seems  to  have 
had  a  dim  consciousness  of  what  was  going  on.     It 

1  Some  doctors  assert  with  simplicity  that  Israel's  duty  is  to  keep  the 
Law,  and  then  God  makes  the  rest  of  the  world  work  for  him  :  Bab. 
Talm.,  Berachoth^  35  h. 


MASSACRES  IN  SYRIA   AND  EGYPT.  209 

saw  its  master  in  this  awkward  stranger  —  shrinking, 
timid,  without  dignity  to  the  eye ;  but  upright,  virtu- 
ous, diligent,  straightforward,  endowed  with  modest 
merit ;  no  soldier,  but  a  good  tradesman,  a  good-hu- 
moured and  steady  labourer.  The  Jewish  household 
radiant  with  hope,  the  synagogue  where  brotherhood 
was  so  full  of  charm,  were  regarded  with  a  wishful  eye. 
Such  humbleness  of  spirit,  so  calm  an  acceptance  of  per- 
secution and  ignominy,  —  so  resignedly  finding  comfort 
for  his  exclusion  from  the  great  world  in  the  privilege 
of  his  family  and  his  church,  —  a  placid  gaiety  like 
that  which  makes  the  Oriental  peasant  of  our  day  find 
his  bliss  in  his  very  inferiority,  in  the  humility  of  that 
sphere  where  he  is  but  the  happier  for  the  outward 
cruelty  and  scorn  he  suffers,  —  all  this  the  aristocrat  of 
old  could  view  only  with  moods  of  profound  ill-humour, 
which  would  sometimes  end  in  acts  of  hateful  brutality. 
The  first  muttering  of  the  storm  was  heard  at  Cses- 
area  ^  almost  at  the  moment  when  the  revolution  was 
coming  to  its  full  triumph  in  Jerusalem.  In  Csesarea 
the  condition  of  Jews  and  Syrians,  including  all  who 
were  not  Jews,  was  most  full  of  difficulty.^  In  Syrian 
towns  of  mixed  population  Jews  made  the  wealthier 
class ;  but  their  wealth,  as  before  noted,  was  due  in  part 
to  an  unfair  advantage,  —  exemption  from  military  ser- 
vice. Greeks  and  Syrians,  who  furnished  recruits  for 
the  legionary  ranks,  were  exasperated  at  finding  them- 
selves crowded  by  men  exempt  from  public  burdens, 
who  made  profit  by  the  tolerance  they  enjoyed.^    Hence 

1  Jos.  Wars,  ii.  18:  1-8;  Life,  6. 

2  Comp.  lalkout,   i.  110;  Midrash  Eka,  i.  5;  iv.  21;  Bab.   Talm., 
Megilla,  6  a. 

8  Jos.  Antiq.  xx.  8  :  7;  Wars^  ii.  13:  7. 

14 


2IO  ANTICHRIST, 

were  incessant  disputes,  and  endless  complaints  were 
brought  before  the  Roman  magistrates.  Orientals  com- 
monly make  religion  the  ground  of  petty  quarrels ;  the 
least  religious  of  men  become  emulously  devout  as  soon 
as  it  gives  a  chance  to  annoy  a  neighbour,  as  the  Turk- 
ish functionaries  of  our  day  find  it,  when  assailed  with 
grievances  of  this  nature.  From  the  year  60,  or  there- 
about, the  fight  between  the  two  parties  at  CaBsarea 
had  been  going  on  without  truce.  Nero  settled  the 
pending  questions  against  the  Jews,  but  the  feud  was 
only  embittered.-^  Petty  acts  of  spite  (or  possibly  mere 
oversights)  committed  by  Syrians  became  wilful  crimes 
when  seen  with  Jewish  eyes.  Young  men  would 
threaten,  and  then  fight ;  grown  men  would  make 
appeal  to  Roman  authority,  which  would  commonly 
sentence  both  parties  to  the  bastinado.^  Gessius  Florus 
acted  in  a  humaner  way :  he  would  begin  by  getting 
pay  from  both  parties,  and  then  laugh  at  the  com- 
plainants. A  synagogue  having  a  party- wall,  a  can  or 
pitcher,  or  the  remains  of  a  few  chickens  found  at  the 
sanctuary  door,  which  the  Jews  insisted  were  the  rem- 
nants of  a  pagan  sacrifice,  were  the  town-talk  at  Caesa- 
rea,  just  at  the  time  when  Florus  came  back  fuming 
with  rage  at  the  insult  that  had  been  put  upon  him  by 
the  populace  of  Jerusalem. 

A  few  months  after,  when  it  was  learned  that  this 
populace  had  succeeded  in  driving  the  Romans  from 
their  walls,  passion  was  very  hot.  War  was  openly 
declared  between  Jews  and  Romans,  and  the  Syrians 
thought  they  might  now  slaughter  their  foes  with 
impunity.      In   an   hour  twenty   thousand    had    been 

1  Jos.  Ant.  XX.  8:  7-9;  Wars,  ii.  14:  4. 
a  Jos.  Ant.  XX.  8:  7;   Wars,  ii.  13:  7. 


MASSACRES  IN  SYRIA   AND  EGYPT.  211 

butchered ;  not  a  single  one  remained  in  Caesarea. 
Floras,  in  fact,  gave  orders  to  seize  and  commit  to  the 
galleys  all  who  had  escaped  by  flight.  The  crime  called 
out  frightful  reprisals.^  The  Jews  formed  bands  and 
set  out,  on  their  part,  to  slaughter  the  Syrians  in  Phil- 
adelphia, Hesebon,  Gerasa,  Pella,  and  Scythopolis ;  they 
ravaged  Decapolis  and  Gaulonitis ;  they  set  fire  to 
Sebaste  and  Ascalon ;  they  made  ruin  of  Anthedon 
and  Gaza.  The  villages  were  burned,  and  every  one 
not  a  Jew  was  killed.  The  Syrians,  in  revenge,  slew 
every  Jew  they  met.  Southern  Syria  was  a  field  of 
slaughter ;  every  town  was  divided  between  two  armed 
bodies,  making  war  on  each  other  without  mercy ;  the 
nights  were  full  of  terror.  There  were  incidents  of 
special  horror.  At  Scythopolis,  Jews  joined  with  their 
pagan  neighbours  to  fight  invading  Jews  ;  and  this 
alliance  did  not  save  them  from  being  slaughtered  in 
their  turn  by  the  Scythopolitans. 

Butcheries  of  Jews  were  revived  with  fresh  violence 
at  Ascalon,  Acre,  Tyre,  Hippos,  and  Gadara.  Those 
left  unslain  were  cast  into  prison.  The  scenes  of  mad- 
ness that  were  taking  place  at  Jerusalem  led  men  to  see 
in  every  Jew  a  sort  of  dangerous  lunatic,  whose  acts  of 
fury  it  was  a  duty  to  anticipate. 

This  epidemic  of  massacre  reached  as  far  as  Egypt. 
Here  the  hatred  of  Jew  and  Greek  went  to  its  greatest 
length.  Half  of  Alexandria  was  a  Jewish  city,  mak- 
ing a  sort  of  autonomous  republic.^  In  fact,  for  some 
months  the  prefect  of  Egypt  had  been  a  Jew,  Tiberius 
Alexander,^ — an  apostate,  it  is  true,  not  at  all  likely 

1  Jos.  Wars,  ii.  18 :  1 ;  Life,  6,  55. 

2  Strabo  in  Jos.  Antiq.  xiv.  7  :  2. 

8  Mem  de  VAcad.  des  Inscr.,  etc.,  xxvi.  296. 


212  ANTICHRIST. 

to  indulge  tlie  fanaticism  of  his  fellow-religionists. 
The  revolt  broke  out  on  occasion  of  a  gathering  in  the 
amphitheatre.  The  first  affront,  it  would  appear,  was 
offered  by  the  Greeks,  and  the  Jews  retorted  savagely. 
Armed  with  torches,  they  threatened  to  burn  the 
Greeks  alive  in  the  amphitheatre  to  the  last  man,  — 
all  amphitheatres  being  then  built  of  wood.  Tiberius 
Alexander  tried  in  vain  to  calm  the  tumult  :  the 
legions  had  to  be  sent  for;  the  Jews  resisted,  and  a 
frightful  massacre  followed.  The  Jewish  quarter, 
called  the  Delta,  was  literally  packed  with  corpses, 
and  the  number  of  the  dead  was  reckoned  at  fifty 
thousand. 

These  horrors  continued  for  about  a  month.  To  the 
north,  they  stopped  at  Tyre,  since  beyond  that  the 
Jewish  populations  were  not  large  enough  to  give 
offence.  In  fact,  the  cause  was  more  social  than  re- 
ligious. Wherever  Judaism  came  into  power,  life  was 
made  intolerable  to  the  pagans.  We  easily  see  that 
the  successful  revolt  of  the  summer  of  66  carried  a 
season  of  terror  to  all  towns  of  mixed  population  any- 
w^iere  near  Palestine  or  Galilee.  I  have  often  pointed 
out  this  singular  quality  of  the  Jewish  people,  that  its 
nature  tends  to  violent  extremes,  and  the  conflict  of 
good  and  evil  lives,  if  I  may  so  say,  in  its  very  heart. 
No  spite  like  Jewish  spite ;  and  yet  in  the  soul  of  Juda- 
ism dwells  the  very  ideal  of  kindness,  self-sacrifice,  and 
love.  The  best-hearted  of  men  have  been  Jews;  the 
cruellest  and  wickedest  have  also  been  Jews.  Strange 
race,  truly  marked  with  the  seal  of  God  !  —  which  could 
yield  side  by  side  —  buds,  as  it  were,  from  a  single  stem 
—  the  infant  Church  and  the  fierce  fanaticism  of  the 
revolt  at  Jerusalem,  Jesus  and  John  of  Giscala,  the 


MASSACRES  IN  SYRIA   AND  EGYPT.  213 

Apostles  and  the  assassin  Zealots,  the  Gospel  and 
the  Talmud !  Can  we  wonder  if  these  mysterious 
birth-pangs  were  accompanied  by  rendings,  by  delir- 
ium, and  by  fever  raging  without  example  ? 

Christians  were  no  doubt  often  included  in  these 
September  massacres,  though  in  general  those  kindly- 
sectaries  would  be  safeguarded  by  their  mild  and 
inoffensive  conduct.  Most  of  those  in  the  Syrian 
towns  were  what  were  then  called  "  Judaisers ;  "  ^  that 
is,  converts  from  the  native  population,  not  born  Jews. 
They  were  regarded  with  distrust,  but  were  not  put  to 
death,  being  considered  a  sort  of  half-breeds,  strangers 
in  their  own  country.^  On  their  own  part,  in  passing 
through  these  dreadful  months,  their  eyes  were  fixed 
on  heaven,  and  in  every  incident  of  the  frightful 
tempest  they  seemed  to  behold  a  sign  of  the  time 
destined  for  the  catastrophe :  "  Learn  a  lesson  from 
the  fig-tree.  When  its  shoots  are  tender  and  put 
forth  leaves,  then  you  know  that  summer  is  near.  So, 
when  you  see  these  things  come  to  pass,  understand 
that  He  is  at  hand,  that  He  is  at  the  very  door ! "  ^ 

Meanwhile  the  Roman  power  was  making  ready  to 
win  back  by  force  the  city  which  it  had  imprudently 
let  go.  Cestius  Galkis,  the  imperial  Governor-General 
of  Syria,  was  advancing  from  Antioch  southward  with 
a  considerable  army.  Agrippa  joined  him  as  guide; 
auxiliary  troops  came  in  to  him  from  the  towns,  whose 
ancient  hate  against  the  Jews  made  good  the  lack  of 

^  Jos.  Wars,  ii.  18:  2. 

2  The  phrase  in  Josephus  seems  somewhat  confused :  rovi  tovbal^ovras 
fi\ov  ev  VTTo-^ia,  koi  to  Trap*  eKaarois  dfi(f)i^oXov  ovre  dveXtlv  Tis  7rpo;(ft/3a)S  V7r«- 
H€ve,  Koi  fiffiiyfievou  coy  ^f^alaa  aXKoc^vkov  ecjio^flro. 

«  Matt.  xxiv.  32,  33. 


214  ANTICHRIST, 

military  skill.  Cestius  easily  brought  Galilee  and  the 
sea-coast  to  submission,  and  on  the  twenty-fourth  of 
October  he  reached  Gabaon  (now  El- Jib),  a  little  more 
than  six  miles  from  Jerusalem. 

With  astonishing  boldness  the  insurgents  went  out 
to  attack  him  here,  and  gave  him  check.  Such  a  thing 
would  be  inconceivable  if  we  were  to  think  of  the  rebel 
force  as  a  pack  of  devotees,  beggarly  fanatics,  and 
highway  robbers.  There  was  in  it  material  more  solid 
and  soldierly:  Monobases  and  Cenedaeus,  two  princes 
of  the  royal  house  of  Adiabene ;  one  Silas  of  Babylon, 
an  officer  of  Agrippa,  who  had  joined  the  party  of  the 
nation ;  Niger  of  Peraea,  a  trained  soldier ;  Simon,  son 
of  Gioras,  who  was  then  entering  on  his  heroic  but 
stormy  career.  Agrippa  thought  the  moment  favour- 
able for  a  parley.  Two  of  his  envoys  came  to  promise 
the  insurgents  full  pardon  if  they  would  submit.  A 
great  part  of  the  population  were  desirous  to  accept ; 
but  the  party  of  Zealots  killed  the  envoys,  and  a  few 
persons,  indignant  at  the  outrage,  were  assaulted.  This 
quarrel  gave  Cestius  his  opportunity.  He  set  out  from 
Gabaon,  and  encamped  on  a  spot  called  Sapha,  or 
Scopus  ["the  Lookout"],  an  important  post  a  short 
hour's  march  northward  from  Jerusalem,  within  sight 
of  the  city  and  Temple.  Here  he  remained  three  days, 
awaiting  the  result  of  his  communications  with  the 
city.  On  the  fourth  day  (October  30)  he  set  his  force 
in  order  for  an  advance.  The  defenders  abandoned 
all  of  the  New  Town,^  and  withdrew  to  the  Inner  City, 
both    upper    and    lower,    and    the    Temple.      Cestius 

^  The  present  Christian  quarter,  to  the  northwest,  joined  to  the  old 
city  by  Agrippa's  wall.  The  boundary  of  Jerusalem,  at  the  time  of  which 
I  write,  was  the  same  as  at  present,  only  varying  a  little  on  the  south. 


MASSACRES  IN  SYRIA   AND  EGYPT.  215 

entered  without  resistance,  occupied  the  new  town, 
the  quarter  of  Bezetha  (the  northern  suburb),  and  the 
wood-market,  which  he  set  on  fire ;  then  laid  siege  to 
the  upper  town,  setting  his  lines  of  attack  in  front  of 
the  Asmonaean  palace  [below  the  northern  slope  of  the 
Temple  hill]. 

Josephus  asserts  that,  if  Cestius  Gallus  had  seen  fit 
to  storm  at  once,  the  war  would  have  been  at  an 
end,  explaining  his  inactivity  by  intrigue,  whose  chief 
motive  was  Florus's  money.  It  appears  that  some 
members  of  the  aristocratic  party  could  be  seen  on 
the  wall,  led  by  one  of  the  Hanans,  who  called  out  to 
Cestius,  offering  to  open  the  gates.  No  doubt  he 
feared  an  ambush.  During  five  days  he  vainly  tried 
to  storm  the  wall.  On  the  sixth  day  (November  5),  he 
attacked  the  defences  of  the  Temple  from  the  north. 
There  was  a  terrible  fight  under  the  colonnades ;  the 
insurgents  were  already  getting  discouraged,  and  the 
peace-party  were  preparing  to  receive  Cestius,  when  he 
abruptly  sounded  a  retreat.  If  the  story  of  Josephus 
is  correct,  this  conduct  is  inexplicable.  Possibly  the 
historian,  to  make  out  his  case  against  Florus,^  exag- 
gerates the  advantage  gained  at  first  by  Cestius  upon 
the  Jews,  and  disparages  the  real  strength  of  the 
resistance.  What  we  know  is,  that  Cestius  went  back 
to  his  camp  at  Scopus,  and  set  out  the  next  day  for 
Gabaon,  sharply  followed  by  the  Jews.  Two  days  after 
(November  8)  he  retreated,  still  pursued,  as  far  as  the 
descent  at  Beth-horon,  about  ten  miles  northwest  from 

1  We  must  remember  that  his  method  is  to  throw  upon  Florus  the  re- 
sponsibility for  the  excesses  of  the  revolt,  by  representing  him  as  the  one 
who  at  first  prevented  its  suppression,  and  foiled  the  efEorts  of  the  peace 
party. 


2i6  ANTICHRIST, 

the  city,  where  he  abandoned  his  baggage  and  took 
refuge,  with  some  difficulty,  at  Antipatris.^ 

The  incompetency  of  Cestius  as  shown  in  this  cam- 
paign is  astonishing.  The  evil  rule  of  Nero  must 
have  greatly  degraded  all  the  service  of  the  State,  to 
make  such  things  possible.  Cestius  did  not  long  sur- 
vive his  defeat,  and  his  death,  soon  after,  was  laid  by 
many  to  his  disgrace.^  We  do  not  know  what  became 
of  Florus. 

1  Six  miles  from  the  coast,  and  ten  miles  northeast  from  Jaffa.  See 
Jos.  Wars,  ii.  18:  9-19;  Life^  5-7  (here  Gessius  should  probably  be 
Cestius);  Tac.  Hist.  v.  10;  Suet.  Vesp,  4. 

2  Tac.  Hist.  V.  10. 


CHAPTER  Xn. 

VESPASIAN    IN     GALILEE  ;     TERROR    AT     JERUSALEM.  — 

A.  D.  66-68. 

While  the  Empire  underwent  this  bloody  check  in  the 
East,  Nero,  driven  from  one  mad  crime  to  another,  was 
all  absorbed  in  his  vain  pretensions  as  an  artist.  With 
Petronius  had  disappeared  everything  that  could  be 
called  taste,  tact,  or  courtesy.  Colossal  self-love  gave 
him  a  burning  thirst  to  grasp  at  every  sort  of  glory  in 
the  world ;  so  that,  says  Suetonius,  he  was  "  the  rival 
of  any  man  who  in  any  way  could  touch  the  fancy  of 
the  vulgar."  ^  He  pursued  those  who  attracted  public 
attention  with  a  bitter  jealousy  ;  to  succeed,  in  no  mat- 
ter what,  came  to  be  a  crime  against  the  State ;  it  is 
said  that  he  even  tried  to  stop  the  sale  of  Lucan's 
works.^  He  aspired  to  such  fame  as  never  had  been 
known,  "  eager  for  things  incredible,"  says  Tacitus.^ 
Vast  projects  were  revolving  in  his  head,  —  to  cut 
through  the  isthmus  of  Corinth,  to  dig  a  canal  from 
Baiae  to  Ostia,  to  discover  the  sources  of  the  Nile.*  He 
had  long  dreamed  of  a  journey  to  Greece,  —  not  from  a 
serious  wish  to  see  the  masterpieces  of  matchless  skill, 
but  with  the  odd  ambition  to  compete  in  the  games 
established  in  different  places  and  carry  away  the  prize. 

1  Nero,  53.  «  x^c.  Ann.  xv.  49.  «  Ihid.  42. 

*  We  may  infer  from  Seneca  {Qucest.  nat.  vi.  8)  that  the  centurions 
sent  on  this  errand  penetrated  as  far  as  the  Great  Lakes. 


2i8  ANTICHRIST, 

These  contests  were  literally  numberless.  The  founding 
of  games  in  Greece  was  one  form  of  public  benefaction ; 
as  with  the  founding  of  our  college  prizes,  any  citizen 
of  moderate  wealth  had  in  this  a  ready  way  to  be- 
queath a  name  to  later  times.^  The  noble  exercises, 
which  so  greatly  added  to  the  strength  and  beauty  of 
the  ancients  and  became  the  school  of  Greek  art,  had 
become  —  as  the  mediaeval  tournaments  afterwards  be- 
came —  the  business  of  professionals,  who  made  a  trade 
of  running  in  the  races  and  winning  crowns.  Instead  of 
free-born  youths  handsome  and  well-bred,  here  were 
only  odious  and  worthless  fops  or  men  trained  to  a 
profitable  special  skill.  The  prizes,  which  the  victors 
wore  as  a  sort  of  personal  decoration,  gave  the  vain- 
glorious Caesar  many  a  sleepless  night;  and  he  was 
already  dreaming  of  his  return  to  Rome  in  triumph, 
with  the  very  rare  title  of  "  all-round  victor  "  (TreptoSo- 
vLK7)s)  in  the  complete  cycle  of  the  four  established 
games.^ 

His  passion  for  public  singing  amounted  to  insanity.^ 
One  of  his  reasons  for  wishing  the  death  of  Thraseas 
was  that  he  did  not  sacrifice  to  the  emperor's  "  heav- 
enly voice.''  *  In  the  presence  of  the  Parthian  king, 
his  guest,  he  would  display  his  skill  in  nothing  but  the 
chariot-race.^  Lyric  dramas  were  put  upon  the  stage, 
in  which  he  took   the  leading  part,  while  the  gods, 

1  See  the  inscription  from  Larissa  in  report  oiAcad.  des  Inscr.,  session 
of  July  1,  1870  ;  also  Revue  ArcheoL,  July-August,  1872,  p.  109. 

2  See  Comptes  rendus  de  VAcad.  des  Inscr.,  1872,  p.  114;  Dion  Cassius 
Ixiii.  8,  20,  21. 

8  Suet.  Nero,  pass. ;  Dion  Cassius,  Ixiii.  26,  27 ;  Euseb.  Chron.  64  j 
Carm.  Sib.,  v.  140,  141. 

*  Tac.  Ann.  xvi.  22;  Dion  Cass.  Ixii.  26. 
^  Dion  Cass.  Ixiii.  6. 


VESPASIAN  IN  GALILEE.  219 

goddesses,  heroes,  and  heroines  were  masked  and  robed 
in  his  likeness  or  that  of  his  favourite  mistress.  Thus 
he  played  as  (Edipus,  Thyestes,  Hercules,  Alcmaeon, 
Orestes,  Canace ;  he  was  seen  on  the  stage  in  chains 
(golden),  guided  as  if  blind,  imitating  the  gestures  of  a 
madman,  or  personating  a  woman  in  labour.  One  of 
his  latest  schemes  was  to  appear  naked  in  the  theatre 
as  Hercules,  crushing  a  lion  in  his  arms  or  killing  him 
with  a  club  :  the  lion,  it  is  said,  was  already  selected 
and  in  training,  when  Nero  died.^  To  leave  one's  seat 
while  he  was  singing  was  so  grave  a  crime  that  the 
most  ridiculous  precautions  were  taken  to  do  it  secretly. 
In  contests  of  skill  he  would  blacken  his  competitors  or 
try  to  put  them  out  of  countenance,  so  that  the  poor 
fellows  would  sing  false  on  purpose  to  be  put  out  of 
competition  with  him.  Judges  would  encourage  him, 
or  humour  his  timidity.  If  this  absurd  display  brought 
a  flush  to  any  one's  brow  or  an  expression  of  pain  to 
any  face,  he  would  say  that  there  were  persons  he  sus- 
pected of  partiality.  Meanwhile  he  obeyed  the  rules 
of  the  prize-games  like  a  school-boy,  trembling  before 
the  umpires  and  the  scourge-bearers,  and  paying  money 
not  to  be  whipped  if  he  should  blunder.  If  he  made  a 
miss  that  should  have  thrown  him  out,  he  would  turn 
pale,  and  had  to  be  told  in  a  whisper  that  the  blunder 
had  never  been  noticed  amidst  the  popular  enthusiasm 
and  applause.  The  statues  of  those  who  had  worn  the 
wreath  before  him  were  cast  down,  lest  they  should 
excite  dangerous  fits  of  jealousy  in  him.  In  the  races 
care  was  taken  that  he  should  come  in  first,  even  if  he 
fell  out  of  his  chariot ;  but  sometimes  he  would  allow 
himself  to  be  beaten,  on  purpose  that  he  might  be  sup- 

1  Suet.  Nero,  53. 


220  ANTICHRIST, 

posed  to  play  a  fair  game.^  In  Italy,  as  I  said  before, 
he  had  the  mortification  of  owing  his  success  to  hired 
plaudits  from  a  group,  skilfully  made  up  and  well  paid, 
that  followed  him  everywhere.  The  Romans  became 
to  him  intolerable;  he  called  them  clowns,  and  said 
that  a  self-respecting  artist  could  desire  only  the  ap- 
plause of  Greeks. 

He  set  off  on  the  journey  so  eagerly  anticipated  in 
November,  66.  He  had  been  only  a  few  days  in 
Achaia  when  he  learned  the  defeat  of  Cestius.  This 
war,  as  he  now  clearly  saw,  required  a  brave  and  ex- 
perienced commander ;  but,  above  all,  it  must  be  a 
man  whom  he  did  not  fear.  These  qualities  seemed  to 
meet  in  Titus  Flavins  Vespasianus.  Vespasian  was  a 
grave  and  steady  soldier,  a  man  of  sixty,  who  had  al- 
ways been  fortunate  in  his  campaigns,  and  was  of  too 
low  birth  to  be  suspected  of  high  ambitions.  He  was 
just  now  in  discredit  with  Nero  for  not  having  shown 
enough  admiration  of  his  fine  voice  ;  and  when  the 
message  first  came  to  him,  calling  him  to  the  command 
of  the  army  in  Palestine,  he  supposed  for  a  moment 
that  it  was  a  sentence  to  death.  His  son  Titus  soon 
joined  him ;  and  about  the  same  time  Mucian  suc- 
ceeded Cestius  as  imperial  legate  (or  governor-general) 
of  Syria.  The  three  men  who  within  two  years  were 
to  control  the  destiny  of  the  empire  thus  came  together 
in  the  East.^ 

The  boldness  of  the  insurgents  was  exalted  to  the 
highest  pitch  by  the  complete  victory  they  had  gained 
over  a  Roman  army  commanded  by  an  imperial  legate. 
The  more  intelligent  and  better  informed  in  Jerusalem 

1  Dion  Cass.  Ixiii.  1,  8;  Suet.  Nero,  21-24,  53. 

2  Jos.  Wars,  Proem,  8;  ii.  41:  1;  3:  1;  Suet.  Fes/>.  4;  Tac.  Hist.  v.  10. 


VESPASIAN  IN  GALILEE.  221 

were  downcast ;  tliey  judged,  on  good  grounds,  that 
the  final  advantage  could  not  but  be  with  the  Romans. 
The  ruin  of  the  Temple  and  the  nation  appeared  to 
them  certain,^  and  emigration  began  at  once.  All  the 
Herodians,  and  all  those  in  the  service  of  Agrippa, 
went  over  to  the  Romans.^  A  large  number  of  Phari- 
sees, looking  only  to  the  observance  of  the  Law  and 
the  peaceful  future  of  Israel,  of  which  they  dreamed, 
held  that  they  must  submit  to  the  Romans,  just  as  they 
had  before  submitted  to  the  kings  of  Persia  and  Egypt. 
They  cared  little  for  the  nation's  independence.  Rabbi 
Johanan  Ben  Zakai,  the  most  famous  Pharisee  of  the 
time,  lived  apart  from  politics.^  Many  doctors  probably 
at  this  time  withdrew  to  Jamnia  [or  Jabneh,  near  the 
coast,  and  not  far  from  Joppa],  where  they  founded  the 
Talmudic  schools,  which  soon  became  so  celebrated.* 

Meanwhile  massacres  began  again,  and  extended  to 
parts  of  Syria,  free  till  now  of  the  bloody  epidemic. 
At  Damascus,  every  male  Jew  was  slaughtered.  Most 
of  the  women  of  that  city  professed  the  Jewish  reli- 
gion, and  unquestionably  there  were  Christians  in  their 
number.  Care  was  taken  that  the  massacres  should  be 
committed  by  surprise,  and  without  their  knowledge.^ 

The  defenders  of  the  city  displayed  prodigious  en- 
ergy, enlisting  even  the  lukewarm  to  their  aid.  A 
council  was  held  in  the  Temple  to  form  a  national 
government,  to  consist  of  the  best  men  in  the  nation. 
As  yet  the  moderates  had  by  no  means  abandoned  the 
contest.     Whether  they  still  hoped  to  guide  the  move- 

1  Jos.  Life,  4.  2  Jog.  y{^ars,  ii.  20:  1;  Life,  6. 

»  Mechilta  on  Ex.  xx.  22;  Bab.  Talra.  GMn,  56  a,  &;  Ahoih  d.  Nathan^ 
ch.  4;  Midrash  rabba  on  Eccl.  vii.  11,  and  on  Eka,  i.  5. 

*  Derenbourg,  Hist.  p.  288.  *  Josephus,  as  above. 


222  ANTICHRIST, 

ment,  or  had  a  secret  hope  such  as  one  dallies  with  so 
fondly  at  a  crisis,  spite  of  all  warnings  of  reason,  they 
allowed  themselves  to  be  drawn  to  the  front  at  almost 
every  point.  Men  of  great  weight,  many  members  of 
Sadducsean  and  priestly  families,  the  higher  ranks  of 
Pharisees,^  with  the  wise  and  upright  Simeon  ben- 
Gamaliel  ^  at  their  head,  joined  the  party  of  revolution. 
They  acted  under  strict  forms  of  law,  recognising  the 
supremacy  of  the  Sanhedrim.  City  and  Temple  re- 
mained in  the  hands  of  the  established  authorities, — 
Hanan,  eldest  of  the  priesthood,^  Joshua  ben-Gamala, 
Simeon  ben-Gamaliel,  and  Joseph  ben-Gorion.  Joseph 
and  Hanan  were  named  commissioners  at  Jerusalem ; 
Eleazar,  son  of  Simon,  a  demagogue  without  principle, 
whose  personal  ambition  was  rendered  dangerous  by 
the  wealth  he  had  acquired,  was  purposely  set  aside. 
Commissioners  were  also  chosen  for  the  provinces,  all 
being  moderate  men  except  Eleazar,  son  of  Ananias, 
who  was  sent  to  Idumsea.  Josephus,  afterwards  of  so 
brilliant  repute  as  historian,  was  prefect  of  Galilee. 
Many  among  them  were  sober-minded  men,  who  ac- 
cepted their  posts  largely  to  aid  in  maintaining  order, 
and  with  the  hope  of  controlling  the  elements  of  anar- 
chy which  threatened  to  ruin  everything.* 

The  excitement  in  Jerusalem  was  very  great.  The 
city  resembled  a  camp,  or  a  workshop  of  arms.  On  every 
side  resounded  the  cries  of  young  men  in  military  drill.^ 

1  The  upper  middle-class :  Jos.  Life^  5. 

2  Son  of  Gamaliel  of  the  *'  Acts,"  and  grandson  of  Hillel :  Jos.  Z^/e,  38. 
^  Son  of  the  high-priest  who  condemned  Jesus;  Jos.  Wars^  iv.  3:  7. 

^  Jos.  Wars^  ii.  20:  3;  22:  1;  Life^  7.  Josephus  disguises  the  part  he 
took  in  the  revolt,  representing  himself  as  more  moderate  than  he  really 
was. 

«  Jos.  Wars,  ii.  21 :  4. 


VESPASIAN  IN  GALILEE.  223 

Jews  from  the  remote  East,  above  all  from  Parthia, 
thronged  thither,  persuaded  that  the  Roman  dominion 
was  now  at  an  end.^  They  felt  that  Nero's  reign  would 
soon  be  over,  and  were  convinced  that  the  empire 
would  perish  with  him,  —  an  idea  which  we  find  also 
in  the  Apocalypse.^  This  last  heir  of  CaBsar's  name, 
plunged  in  shame  and  contempt,  was  to  them  as  an 
evident  sign.  Seen  from  this  point  of  view,  the  insur- 
rection must  seem  far  less  insane  than  it  looks  to  us, 
knowing  as  we  do  that  the  empire  had  strength  yet 
left  for  several  revivals.  It  might  really  be  supposed 
that  the  work  of  Augustus  was  out  of  joint;  at  any 
moment  the  Parthians  might  be  seen,  in  fancy,  pouring 
over  the  Roman  territories,^  —  and  this  would  have 
happened,  in  fact,  if  various  causes  had  not  just  then 
greatly  weakened  the  Parthian  power.  One  of  the 
noblest  visions  in  the  book  of  Enoch  is  that  in  which 
the  prophet  sees  a  sword  given  to  the  sheep,  and  the 
sheep,  thus  armed,  driving  back  the  wild  beasts,  which 
in  their  turn  take  to  flight.*  Such  was,  in  fact,  the 
feeling  of  the  Jews.  For  lack  of  military  training, 
they  could  not  see  how  deceitful  was  the  success  they 
had  gained  over  Cestius  and  Florus.  They  stamped 
coins  after  the  pattern  of  the  Maccabees,  having  the 
figure  of  the  Temple,  or  some  Jewish  device,  with  in- 
scriptions  in   ancient  Hebrew   letters.^      These  coins, 

^  Jos.  TFars,  proem,  2;  vi.  6:2;  Dion  Cass.  Ixvi.  4. 

*  See  ch.  xvi.,  "post. 

8  Rev.  ix.  14-21;  xvi.  12-16;  Jos.  Wars,  vi.  6:  2. 

*  Enoch,  xc.  19  (Dillmann  and  the  later  editions). 

^  It  is  very  hard  to  distinguish  the  coins  of  this  first  revolt  from  those 
of  the  second  (a.  d.  132),  or  of  the  Maccabees  (see  Madden's  "Jewish 
Coinage,"  p.  154,  which  sums  up  all  previous  study,  adopting,  however, 
the  theories  of  Levy,  which  are  themselves  ver}'  doubtful).     We  may  fear 


224  ANTICHRIST. 

dated  from  the  "  year  of  deliverance/'  or  of  the  "  lib- 
erty of  Zion,"  were  at  first  without  name,  or  with  only 
that  of  Jerusalem ;  afterward  they  bore  the  names  of 
party  leaders,  who  held  supreme  power  at  the  will  of 
some  one  or  other  faction.^  It  may  even  be  that  in 
the  first  months  of  the  revolt,  Eleazar,  son  of  Simon, 
who  had  in  hand  an  enormous  quantity  of  silver,  ven- 
tured to  coin  money,  giving  himself  the  title  of  high- 
priest.^  The  amount,  at  all  events,  must  have  been 
considerable ;  it  was  called  "  money  of  Jerusalem,"  or 
"  money  of  Danger."  ^ 

Hanan  came  to  be  more  and  more  the  head  of  the 
moderate  party.  He  still  hoped  to  bring  the  mass  of 
the  people  to  peace,  and  quietly  endeavoured  to  check 
the  making  of  weapons  and  to  paralyse  resistance 
while  giving  it  the  air  of  discipline.  This  is  the  most 
hazardous  of  games  to  play  in  a  time  of  revolution ; 
he  was,  in  short,  what  revolutionists  call  a  traitor.*  In 
the  eyes  of  enthusiasts  he  had  the  fault  of  seeing 
things  too  clearly ;  in  the  view  of  history  he  cannot  be 

that  the  subject  can  never  be  made  quite  clear;  for  in  the  earlier  revolt 
the  Asmonaean  coinage  may  have  been  copied,  or  its  own  in  the  later. 
Every  coin  having  either  the  figure  or  the  inscription  described  in  the 
text  is  one  belonging  to  the  earlier  revolt,  or  else  is  an  imitation  of  it  ; 
the  latter  revolt,  in  fact,  never  held  possession  of  Jerusalem.  In  the  ear- 
lier, the  Roman  coinage  appears  not  to  have  been  restamped,  as  it  was 
afterwards  (Madden,  171,  176,  203-205). 

1  Eleazar,  son  of  Simon,  and  Simon,  son  of  Gioras.  We  are  not  sure 
"whether  John  of  Gischala  coined  money  (see  Madden,  64,  173,  180,  182). 
Coinage  is  wrongly  credited  to  Hanan  and  to  Simeon,  son  of  Gamaliel, 
who  was  a  plain  citizen,  a  doctor  held  in  high  respect,  with  no  attribute 
of  sovereignty  whatever  (Derenbourg,  Hut.,  etc.,  270,  271,  286,  423,  424). 

2  Madden,  156,  161,  162;  Jos.  Wars,  ii.  20:  8. 

*  Tosiphtha,  Maaser  scheni,  1;  Jer.  Talm.  id.  1,  2;  Bab.  Talm.  Baba 
kama,  97  6;  Bechoroth,  50a;  Aboda  zara,  52  6;  Levy,  Gesch.  126,  127. 

*  Jos.  Wars,  ii.  22:1. 


VESPASIAN  IN  GALILEE,  225 

acquitted  of  having  accepted  the  most  false  of  posi- 
tions, —  that  of  making  war  without  faith  in  it,  merely 
because  driven  to  it  by  ignorant  fanatics.  In  the  prov- 
inces there  w^as  horrible  confusion.  The  districts  to 
the  south  and  east  of  the  Dead  Sea,  wholly  peopled 
by  Arabs,^  poured  upon  Judaea  hordes  of  bandits,  who 
lived  by  massacre  and  pillage.  Under  such  conditions 
order  was  impossible ;  for  to  establish  order,  two  things 
must  be  driven  out  which  made  the  very  strength  of 
the  revoliktion,  —  fanaticism  and  brigandage.  A  terri- 
ble situation,  when  the  only  choice  is  whether  you  will 
appeal  to  the  stranger  or  to  anarchy !  In  Acrabatene 
(a  district  lying  between  Judcea  and  Samaria)  a  young 
and  brave  partisan,  Simon,  son  of  Gioras,  pillaged  and 
tortured  the  rich.^  In  Galilee  Josephus  tried  in  vain 
to  maintain  something  like  a  rational  policy.  One 
John  of  Gischala,  a  bold  and  tricky  agitator,  uniting 
an  implacable  disposition  with  a  heated  enthusiasm, 
managed  to  foil  him  at  every  point.  As  always  hap- 
pens in  the  East,  Josephus  was  forced  to  enlist  the 
brigands,  under  regular  pay,  as  the  price  of  general 
security  from  plunder.^ 

Meanwhile  Vespasian  went  on  with  his  preparations 
for  the  difficult  campaign  before  him.  His  plan  was 
to  attack  the  insurrection  from  the  north ;  to  crush  it 
first  in  Galilee,  then  in  Judaea;  to  throw  it  back  in 
some  way  upon  Jerusalem ;  and,  when  he  had  packed 
its  forces  all  about  this  central  point,  where  crowding, 
famine,  and  factions  were  sure  to  bring  about  frightful 

^  The  Nabathsean  inscriptions  are  in  Syriac,  but  their  proper  names 
are  Arabic  (Obeis,  Jamer,  etc.). 

2  Jos.  Wars,  ii.  22:  2;  iv.  9:  3,  4. 
8  Ibid.  ii.  20:5-21;  Life,  8,  9. 

15 


226  ANTICHRIST. 

scenes,  to  wait ;  or,  if  that  should  not  be  enough,  to 
strike  one  great  blow.  He  went  first  to  Antioch,  where 
Agrippa  came  to  join  him  with  all  his  forces.  Antioch 
had  not  yet  had  its  massacre  of  Jews,  —  no  doubt 
because  a  multitude  of  the  Greeks  living  there  had 
embraced  the  Jewish  faith,  —  mostly  in  the  Christian 
form,  —  and  this  deadened  the  mutual  hate.  But  just 
at  this  moment  the  storm  broke  out.  The  wild  charge 
of  having  plotted  to  set  fire  to  the  city  brought  on 
butcheries,  followed  by  a  sharp  persecutior^,  in  which 
many  Christians  doubtless  perished,  confounded  with 
the  adherents  of  a  faith  that  was  no  longer  more 
than  half  their  own.^ 

The  expedition  set  out  in  March,  67,  following  the 
usual  sea-coast  road,  and  fixed  its  headquarters  at 
Ptolemais  (Acre).  The  first  blow  fell  upon  Galilee. 
Here  the  population  were  heroic.  The  little  town  of 
Judifat,  or  Jotapata,^  just  fortified,  made  an  astonish- 
ing resistance.  Not  one  of  its  defenders  would  survive. 
Pent  up  in  a  place  without  exit,  they  slew  one  another. 
"Galilsean"  became  another  name  for  a  sectarian  fanatic, 
obstinately  bent  on  death  by  his  own  choice.^  Tiberias, 
Taricheae,  and  Gamala  surrendered,  but  not  till  after 
great  slaughter.  History  gives  few  examples  of  a 
people  so  ground  to  pieces.  The  very  waves  of  that 
quiet  lake  where  Jesus  had  dreamed  of  the  heavenly 
kingdom  were  stained  with  blood,  while  the  shore  was 

1  Jos.  Wars,   vii.  3:  3,  4. 

2  Now  Jefat,  Tell  Jefat,  or  Tell  Jephta  (cf.  Schultz,  in  Zeitsdir.  der  d. 
m.  G.  1849,49,  59,  61;  Ritter,  xvi.  764;  Robinson,  iii.  105;  Aug.  Parent, 
Siege  de  J.  (1866),  p.  3;  Neubauer,  Geog.  du  Talmud,  193,  203,  204.  Gopa- 
lata  in  Reland  is  an  error  of  copy;  Jiphtah-el  (Josh.  xv.  43)  has  nothing 
to  do  with  it. 

»  See  "  The  Apostles,"  p.  235,  n.  4. 


VESPASIAN  IN  GALILEE.  227 

covered  with  putrefying  corpses  and  the  air  poisoned 
with  corruption.  Crowds  of  Jews  had  taken  refuge  on 
boats,  but  Vespasian  gave  orders  to  kill  or  drown  them 
all.  The  remnant  of  the  able-bodied  were  sold  as 
slaves;  six  thousand  captives  were  sent  to  Nero  in 
Achaia  to  the  severest  tasks  in  cutting  through  the 
isthmus  of  Corinth ;  ^  the  aged  were  slaughtered. 
Almost  the  only  one  who  escaped  was  Josephus,  a 
man  of  no  depth  of  nature,  and  always  doubting  the 
issue  of  the  war,  who  surrendered  to  the  Romans,  and 
was  soon  on  the  best  terms  with  Vespasian  and  Titus. 
All  his  ability  as  a  writer  has  not  sufficed  to  wash  from 
his  conduct  a  certain  smear  of  baseness.^ 

The  best  of  the  year  67  was  taken  up  with  this 
business  of  extermination.  Galilee  never  recovered 
from  it.  The  Christians  who  were  there  doubtless 
took  refuge  beyond  the  lake,  and  the  name  of  Jesus' 
birthplace  appears  no  more  in  Christian  history.  Gis- 
chala  held  out  to  the  last,  but  fell  in  November  or 
December.  John  of  Gischala,  who  had  defended  it 
with  fury,  escaped,  and  succeeded  in  reaching  Judaea. 
Vespasian  and  Titus  took  winter-quarters  at  Caesarea, 
preparing  for  the  siege  of  Jerusalem  in  the  following 
year.^ 

The  great  weakness  of  a  provisional  government 
organized  for  national  defence  is  that  it  cannot  survive 

1  Jos.  Wars^  iii.  10:  10;  Lucian  (or  Philostratus),  Nero^  etc.,  3.  The 
Sibylline  verses  allude  to  this  taskwork  in  v.  32,  138,  217;  viii.  155; 
xii.  84.     Comp.  Philostratus,  Apoll.  v.  19. 

2  His  "  Life "  (38,  39)  gives  a  very  poor  explanation  of  the  distrust 
felt  towards  him  by  the  best  men  in  Jerusalem.  Justus  of  Tiberias 
(Z/j/e,  65)  was  very  hostile  to  him. 

*  Jos.  Wars^  iii.-iv.  2 ;  Zi/c,  65,  74,  75  (greatly  expanded  by  the  histo- 
rian's vanity) ;  Tac.  Hht.  v.  10. 


228  ANTICHRIST. 

defeat.  Constantly  undermined  by  the  more  impa- 
tient, it  falls  as  soon  as  it  can  no  longer  give  to  the 
fickle  multitude  that  victory  for  the  sake  of  which  it  was 
put  in  place.  John  of  Gischala  and  the  refugees  from 
Galilee,  coming  into  Jerusalem  day  after  day  with  rage 
in  their  hearts,  lifted  again  that  cry  of  fury  which  was 
the  life-breath  of  the  revolution.  Hot  and  panting, 
they  gasped  such  words  as  these  :  "  We  are  not  beaten, 
but  we  want  better  posts.  Why  wear  us  out  in  Gischala 
and  such  wretched  holes,  when  we  have  the  metropolis 
to  defend  ?  "  Said  John  of  Gischala,  '''  I  have  seen  the 
Roman  engines  shivered  to  pieces  against  the  walls  of 
villages  in  Galilee.  Unless  they  have  wings  they  will 
never  cross  the  defences  of  Jerusalem ! "  All  the 
young  people  were  for  "  war  to  the  bitter  end."  Troops 
of  volunteers  take  readily  to  plunder.  Bands  of  fanat- 
ics, religious  or  political,  are  always  much  like  high- 
way robbers.^  One  must  live ;  and  a  free-lance  can 
scarce  live  at  all  except  as  a  freebooter.  That  is 
why,  at  a  time  of  national  crisis,  "  brigand  "  is  almost 
synonymous  with  "  hero."  A  war  party  is  always  tyran- 
nous.    No  country  was  ever  saved  by  moderate  coun- 

1  Barabbas,  whom  we  infer  from  Mark  (xv.  7)  to  be  a  member  of  some 
religious  or  political  organization,  is  called  by  John  (xviii.  4)  *'  a  robber." 
So  the  Vendeans  were  "  brigands  of  the  Loire."  So,  to  a  certain  degree, 
we  find  the  volunteers  of  the  French  Revolution,  —  noting  that  Josephus, 
to  whom  we  owe  the  whole  account,  was  a  sort  of  Dumouriez.  His 
hostility  toward  his  political  opponents  breaks  out  constantly.  To  take 
his  word  for  it,  the  firebrands  were  a  mere  wretched  handful,  answering 
to  no  national  sentiment  whatever.  Tacitus  and  Dion  CavSsius  state  the 
whole  thing  differently.  According  to  them,  it  was  an  entire  population 
of  fanatics.  Josephus  clearly  wishes  to  lessen  his  country-people's  guilt 
in  the  eyes  of  the  Romans,  and  thinks  to  excuse  them  by  belittling 
their  patriotism  and  courage.  We  must  remember,  too,  that  the  "  Wars 
of  the  Jews  "  was  submitted  to  Titus's  inspection  and  received  the  oflBcial 
permit  of  Agrippa.     At  least,  Josephus  says  so  {Life^  65). 


VESPASIAN  IN  GALILEE.  229 

sels;  for  the  first  rule  of  moderation  is  to  yield  to 
circumstances,  while  heroism  commonly  consists  in  re- 
fusing an  ear  to  reason.  Josephus,  eminently  a  man 
of  order,  is  probably  right  in  asserting  that  the  resolve 
not  to  retreat  was  the  act  of  a  few  enthusiasts,  drag- 
ging after  them,  by  main  force,  the  body  of  quiet  citi- 
zens, who  would  have  desired  nothing  better  than  to  sub- 
mit. It  is  almost  always  so.  If  a  nation  has  no  dynasty 
—  which  at  bottom  is  only  a  permanent  and  regulated 
terrorism  —  great  sacrifices  can  be  got  from  it  only  by 
means  of  terror.  The  body  of  a  population  are  cow- 
ards at  heart ;  but  in  times  of  revolution  the  coward 
does  not  count.  Enthusiasts  are  always  few  ;  but  they 
force  the  hand  of  the  others  by  cutting  off  the  chance 
of  conciliation.-^  The  rule  in  such  situations  is  that 
power  falls  necessarily  into  the  hands  of  the  more 
ardent,  and  that  politicians  are  fatally  helpless. 

In  the  presence  of  that  burning  fever,  increasing 
every  day,  the  position  of  the  "  moderates'*  (ot  /xer/3toi) 
was  no  longer  tenable.  The  bands  of  pillagers,  when 
they  had  stripped  the  country,  fell  back  on  Jerusalem  ; 
fugitives  from  the  Roman  arms  came,  one  after  an- 
other, to  heap  themselves  upon  the  city,  bringing  fam- 
ine with  them.  There  was  no  effective  authority.  The 
Zealots  reigned  ;  ^  all  those  suspected  of  "  moderan- 
tism "  were   slaughtered   without   mercy.     Until  now 

1  Note,  in  particular,  what  came  to  pass  in  Tiberias  (Jos.  Wars,  iii.  9  : 
7,  8  ;  Zt/e,  65).  Just  so  the  Mussuhnan  fanaticism  is  generally  that  of  a 
minority,  which  dominates  an  entire  population. 

2  The  name  "zealot"  (Ileb.  kanna)  had  hitherto  been  used  in  a 
good  sense.  The  terrorists  of  the  revolt  had  claimed  it  to  themselves, 
and  made  it  nearly  synonymous  with  "  partisan  "  or  "  assassin  "  (sicarius). 
See  Jos.  Wars,  iv.  3  :  9  ;  viii.  8:1.  On  this  word  in  the  Talmud,  see 
Derenbourg,  279,  281,  285,  475-8;  Jos.  Wars,  ii.  13  :  3  ;  Ant.  xx.  8  :  5. 


230  ANTICHRIST, 

war  and  violence  had  stopped  at  the  Temple  limits. 
Now,  zealots  and  robbers  crowded  pell-mell  into  the 
holy  house.  All  rules  of  legal  purity  were  forgotten. 
The  courts  were  stained  with  blood,  fouling  men's  feet 
as  they  walked.^  In  the  eyes  of  priests,  no  crime  was 
more  awful.  To  the  devout,  it  was  the  "  abomination  " 
foretold  by  Daniel,  which  would  invade  the  sacred 
place  just  before  the  last  days.  The  zealot,  like  all 
fighting  fanatics,  made  no  account  of  rites,  which  they 
subordinated  to  the  really  "  holy  work "  of  fighting. 
A  crime  hardly  less  atrocious  was  to  change  the  order 
of  the  priesthood.  Disregarding  the  privilege  of  the 
families  from  which  the  high-priest  was  commonly 
taken,  they  chose  an  ignoble  branch  of  the  sacerdotal 
stock,  and  resorted  to  the  purely  democratic  method  of 
choosing  by  lot.^  This  naturally  produced  strange 
results.  The  lot  fell  upon  a  rustic,  who  had  to  be 
dragged  to  Jerusalem  and  invested  in  his  own  despite 
with  the  sacred  robes,  and  the  pontificate  was  profaned 
by  scenes  of  revelry.  All  serious-minded  people  — 
Pharisee  and  Sadducee,  the  Simeons  ben-Gamaliel  and 
Josephs  ben-Gorian  —  were  wounded  in  what  they  held 
most  dear. 

Such  excesses  at  length  impelled  the  aristocratic 
party  of  the  Sadducees  to  attempt  a  reaction.  With 
much  ability  and  courage,  Hanan  sought  to  unite  the 
better  class  of  citizens  and  men  of  sense,  to  overthrow 
the  monstrous  alliance  of  fanaticism  and  impiety.  The 
Zealots  were  close-pressed,  and  forced  to  take  refuge  in 
the  Temple,  which  became  a  hospital  for  the  wounded. 
To  save  the  revolution,  they  now  took  the  extreme 

1  Jos.,  TFars,  iv.  3:6. 

2  Tosiphtha  /oma,  1 ;  Sifra,  on  Lemt.  xxi.  10  ;  Tanliouma,  48  a. 


VESPASIAN  IN  GALILEE.  231 

step  of  calling  in  the  Idumaeans,  bands  of  robbers  ac- 
customed to  every  violence,  who  were  roaming  about 
Jerusalem.  Their  entrance  was  the  signal  for  a  mas- 
sacre. All  that  could  be  found  who 'belonged  to  the 
priestly  caste  were  slaughtered.  Hanan  and  Jesus, 
sons  of  Gamala,  were  exposed  to  frightful  outrage: 
their  bodies  were  cast  out  unburied,  —  a  thing  unheard- 
of  among  the  Jews. 

Thus  perished  the  son  of  the  man  chiefly  guilty  of 
the  death  of  Jesus.  The  Beni-Hanan  remained  to  the 
last  true  to  their  part,  —  if  I  may  say  so,  to  their 
duty.  Like  most  of  those  who  try  to  build  a  dike  to 
hold  back  the  fury  of  fanatic  sects,  they  were  swept 
away  ;  but  they  perished  honourably.  The  last  Hanan 
seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  great  ability ;  ^  for  nearly 
two  years  he  had  maintained  the  struggle  against  an- 
archy. He  was  a  true  aristocrat,  sometimes  hard  of 
lieart,^  but  grave,  filled  with  a  genuine  political  sense, 
greatly  respected,  liberal  in  this,  that  he  would  have 
the  nation  governed  by  men  of  the  better  sort,  and 
not  by  violent  factions.  Josephus  does  not  doubt  that, 
if  he  had  lived,  he  would  have  obtained  honourable 
terms  of  peace  between  Romans  and  Jews,  and  regards 
the  day  of  his  death  as  that  of  doom  to  the  city  of 
Jerusalem  and  the  Jewish  Commonwealth.  At  least,  it 
was  the  end  of  the  Sadducaean  party,  which  was  often 
haughty,  selfish,  and  cruel,  but  the  only  representative 
of  a  policy  at  once  reasonable  and  capable  of  saving 
the  country.^     To   use   the   common   expression,   one 

^  Jos.  Wars^  iv.  5:  2. 

2  Corap.  Antiq.  xx.  9:1;  Wars,  iv.  5:  2.  These  passages  vary  in  some 
points,  but  no  doubt  refer  to  the  same  person  (see  Wars,  iv.  3:  9). 


232  ANTICHRIST, 

might  be  tempted  to  say  that  Jesus  was  "  avenged  "  by 
the  death  of  Hanan.  It  was  those  of  Hanan's  house 
who  had  said,  before  Jesus,  ^*Tf  things  go  on  thus, 
the  Romans  will  come  and  destroy  both  the  holy 
place  and  the  nation ; "  and  had  presently  after  added, 
"  Better  that  one  man  should  die,  and  that  the  whole 
nation  perish  not."  ^  Still,  let  us  refrain  from  an  ex- 
pression so  frankly  impious.  There  is  no  more  revenge 
in  history  than  in  nature.  Revolutions  are  no  more 
just  than  the  bursting  volcano  or  the  crushing  ava- 
lanche. The  year  1793  did  not  punish  Richelieu,  or 
Louis  the  Fourteenth,  or  the  founders  of  a  united 
France ;  it  only  proved  that  they  were  men  of  narrow 
views,  if  they  did  not  perceive  the  vanity  of  their 
deeds,  the  frivolity  of  their  statecraft,  the  uselessness 
of  their  profound  policy,  the  stupid  cruelty  of  their 
"  reasons  of  State."  The  Preacher  alone  was  wise, 
when  in  the  day  of  his  disillusion  he  declared  that 
"all  under  the  sun  is  vanity." 

With  Hanan,  early  in  68,  perished  the  old  Jewish 
priesthood,  entailed  upon  a  few  great  Sadducaean  fami- 
lies, who  had  so  hotly  opposed  the  growth  of  Chris- 
tianity. Deep  was  the  impression,  when  men  beheld, 
cast  naked  without  the  walls,  a  prey  to  dogs  and 
jackals,  those  aristocrats  held  in  so  high  honour,  who 
were  but  lately  seen  clad  in  sumptuous  priestly  robes, 
presiding  in  pompous  ceremonial,  attended  by  vener- 
ating throngs  of  pilgrims  that  gathered  at  Jerusalem 
from  all  the  world.  In  truth,  a  world  was  passing 
away.  The  democratic  priesthood  set  up  by  the  revo- 
lution was  but  for  a  day.  The  Christians  thought  at 
first  to  put  in  relief  two  or  three  persons  by  adorning 

^  John  xi.  48,  50;  xviii.  14. 


VESPASIAN  IN  GALILEE.  233 

their  brow  with  the  sacerdotal  petalon.  All  this  came 
to  nothing.  The  priestly  office  was  not,  any  more  than 
the  Temple  that  gave  it  dignity,  destined  to  remain 
the  chief  thing  in  Judaism.  The  main  thing  was  the 
enthusiast,  the  prophet,  the  zealot,  the  messenger  of 
the  Lord.  The  prophet  had  slain  the  royalty;  the 
enthusiast,  the  heated  sectary,  slew  the  priesthood. 
Priesthood  and  royalty  once  slain,  there  remains  the 
fanatic,  who  yet  for  two  and  a  half  years  will  wrestle 
against  fate.  When  in  his  turn  he  too  is  crushed, 
there  will  remain  the  doctor,  the  rabbi,  the  interpreter 
of  the  Law.     Priest  and  king  will  rise  no  more. 

And  the  Temple  no  more  than  they.  Those  Zealots 
who,  to  the  great  scandal  of  priests  friendly  to  the 
Romans,  had  made  of  the  Holy  Place  a  fortress  and  a 
hospital,  were  not  so  far  as  we  might  think  at  first 
from  the  feeling  of  Jesus :  "  Of  what  value  are  these 
stones  ?  '*  The  spirit  is  the  only  thing  that  counts  :  that 
which  defends  the  spirit  of  Israel  —  the  Revolution  — 
has  the  right  to  defile  the  stones.  Ever  since  Isaiah 
had  said,  "What  care  I  for  your  sacrifices?  They 
are  an  offence  to  me ;  an  upright  heart  alone  de- 
lights me,"  —  ever  since  that  day,  the  forms  of  worship 
have  been  an  outgrown  routine,  which  must  at  length 
cease  to  be. 

From  the  time  of  Nehemiah,  who  is  already  a 
Pharisee,^  we  note  the  opposition  between  the  priest- 
hood and  the  nation,  which  is  at  bottom  wholly 
democratic,  admitting  no  other  nobility  than  piety 
and  observance  of  the  Law.  The  true  Aaron,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  wise,  is  the  good  man.^    The  AsmonaBans, 

1  Neh.  xiii.  4-13. 

2  Bab.  Talm.  loma,  71  h  (tale  of  Shemaiah  and  Abtalion). 


234  ANTICHRIST, 

at  once  priests  and  kings,  inspire  only  aversion  in  the 
pious.  Saddiiceeism,  every  day  more  unpopular  and 
more  rancorous,  is  preserved  only  by  the  distinction 
which  the  people  make  between  religion  and  its  minis- 
ters/ "No  king,  no  priest,"  —  this  is,  at  bottom,  the 
Pharisee's  ideal.  Judaism  is  powerless  to  found  a  State ; 
and  hence  it  was  forced  into  the  condition  in  which  we 
find  it  for  eighteen  centuries  past,  —  to  live  a  parasitic 
life  in  the  commonwealth  of  others.  Its  destiny  was,  in 
like  manner,  to  become  a  religion  without  temple  and 
without  priest.  The  temple  necessitated  the  priest; 
its  destruction  proved  the  relief  from  a  real  difficulty. 
The  zealots  who,  in  68,  slew  the  pontiff  and  defiled  the 
Temple  in  the  defence  of  God's  cause  were  not,  then, 
out  of  line  with  the  true  tradition  of  Israel. 

But  it  is  clear  that  the  ship,  deprived  of  all  steady- 
ing ballast,  and  abandoned  to  a  frenzied  crew,  must 
drift  to  frightful  wreck.  After  the  slaughter  of  the 
Sadducees,  terror  reigned  in  Jerusalem  without  check 
or  counterpoise.^  Under  its  terrible  oppression,  no  one 
dared  openly  to  mourn,  or  to  bury  his  dead.  Compas- 
sion was  a  crime.  The  "  suspects  "  of  the  better  class, 
who  perished  by  the  assault  of  ruffians,  are  said  to 
have  amounted  to  twelve  thousand.  Here,  no  doubt, 
the  reckoning  of  Joseph  us  is  suspicious.  His  story  of 
the  dominion  of  the  Zealots  is  absurd :  mere  impious 
wretches  do  not  expose  themselves  to  death  as  those 
men  did.     As  well  account  for  the  French  Revolution 

1  Strabo  xvi.  2:  37,  40.  Strabo  had  his  information  from  a  liberal 
Jew,  opposed  to  the  priesthood  and  the  temporal  power.  His  phrase  very 
well  expresses  the  two  opposed  feelings  entertained  by  a  democratic  Jew 
towards  the  Temple,  —  "  loathing  tyranny,  but  revering  sanctity." 

2  For  the  impression  made  on  the  Romans  by  this  fury  of  civil  war, 
see  Pliny,  H.  Nat.  xii.  25  (54). 


VESPASIAN  IN  GALILEE,  235 

by  the  escape  of  a  few  thousand  convicts  from  the  gal- 
leys. Mere  crime  has  never  brought  anything  to  pass. 
The  truth  is  that  popular  movements,  due  to  a  vague 
sense  of  right  and  not  to  reason,  defeat  themselves  by 
their  own  victory.  The  revolution  at  Jerusalem  fol- 
lowed the  rule  of  all  such  tumultuary  movements :  it 
spent  its  force  in  cutting  off  its  own  head.  The  best 
patriots,  those  who  had  contributed  most  to  the  success 
of  the  preceding  year,  —  Gorion,  Niger  of  Peraea, — 
were  put  to  death.  The  entire  class  of  the  well-to-do 
perished.'  The  deepest  impression  was  caused  by  the 
death  of  one  Zacharias,  son  of  Baruch  (Barachias),  the 
most  esteemed  citizen  of  Jerusalem,  greatly  loved  by 
all  good  men.  He  was  dragged  before  a  revolutionary 
tribunal,  and  unanimously  acquitted,  but  was  struck 
down  by  fanatics  "  between  the  temple  and  the  altar." 
He  was  not  improbably  a  friend  of  the  Christians ;  for 
we  seem  to  find  an  allusion  to  him  in  the  prophetic 
words  Jesus  is  said  to  have  spoken  on  the  terrors  of 
the  Latter  Day.^ 

The  astounding  events  at  Jerusalem  made  the  pro- 
foundest  impression  upon  the  Christians.  This  peace- 
ful community,  deprived  of  its  head,  James,  "  the 
Lord's  brother,"  continued  to  lead  its  ascetic  life  in 
the  holy  city,  where  the  disciples  of  Jesus,  clinging 
about  the  Temple,  waited  the  great  Second  Coming. 
With  them  were  the  survivors  of  the  family  of  Naza- 
reth, —  the  sons  of  Cleopas,  held  in  the  greatest  vene- 
ration, even  by  the  Jews.  Everything  that  happened 
must  seem  to  them  clearly  to  confirm  the  words  of 
Jesus.     What  could  these  convulsions  be,  if  not  "  the 

1  Jos.  Wars,  iv.  5:  3-7:  3. 

2  Matt,  xxiii.  34-36  :  see,  however,  "  Life  of  Jesus,"  p.  341,  n. 


236  ANTICHRIST, 

beginning  of  sorrows  "  ^  which  should  precede  the  Mes- 
siah's birth  ?  They  were  convinced  that  the  trium- 
phant coming  of  the  Christ  would  be  preceded  by  the 
appearance  of  numerous  false  prophets ;  ^  and  these,  as 
the  heads  of  the  Christian  community  would  view  it, 
must  be  the  leaders  of  the  Zealots.^  The  terrible  words 
of  Jesus,  describing  the  horrors  which  would  forewarn 
them  of  the  Judgment,  were  applied  to  the  existing 
condition.  It  may  be  that  certain  "  new  lights  "  arose 
within  the  Church  itself,  —  men  claiming  to  speak  in 
the  name  of  Jesus,^  whom  the  elders  warmly  opposed, 
asserting  that  Jesus  had  foretold  the  coming  of  such 
misleaders,  and  warning  the  disciples  against  them. 
This  was  enough.  The  hierarchy,  already  well  estab- 
lished, with  the  teachable  spirit  received  from  Jesus, 
put  a  stop  to  all  these  impostures,  and  the  Church  ben- 
efited by  the  marked  ability  it  had  shown  in  creating 
a  real  authority  at  the  very  heart  of  a  popular  move- 
ment. The  rising  episcopate  (or  rather,  presbytery) 
checked  the  great  disorders  which  the  unguided  con- 
science of  a  multitude  never  escapes.  From  this  time 
forth  we  perceive  that  the  controlling  spirit  of  the 
Church  in  human  affairs  will  be  a  moderate  good  sense, 
a  conservative  and  practical  instinct,  a  distrust  of  dem- 
ocratic dreams,  —  in  striking  contrast  to  the  exalted 
strain  of  its  supernaturalist  assertions. 

This  sagacious  policy  in  the  leaders  of  the  church  at 
Jerusalem  had  its  merits.     Zealots  and  Christians  had 

1  "Birth-pangs":  Matt.  xxiv.  8;  Mark  xiii.  8. 

2  Matt.  xxiv.  4,  5. 

8  See  Acts  v.  36,  37;  viii.  9,  10;  xxi.  38;  Jos.  Antiq.  xx.  5:  1;  8:6; 
Wars,  ii.  13:  5;  vii.  11. 

*  Matt.  xxiv.  4,  5,  11,  23-26.  The  expression,  <'  in  the  desert "  (ver. 
26),  seems  to  refer  to  the  Zealot  deceivers. 


VESPASIAN  IN  GALILEE,  237 

the  same  enemies,  —  the  "sons  of  Hanan/'  the  Saddu- 
cees.  The  ardent  faith  of  the  Zealots  could  not  fail  to 
affect  powerfully  the  equally  exalted  mood  of  the  Jew- 
ish Christians.  The  enthusiasts,  who  drew  crowds  after 
them  into  the  desert  to  show  them  the  kingdom  of  God, 
were  very  much  like  John  the  Baptist,  and  a  very  little 
like  Jesus.  A  few  of  the  faithful,  as  it  appears,  joined 
their  party,  and  were  drawn  along  with  them ;  ^  with 
most,  however,  the  peaceful  temper  of  Christianity  car- 
ried the  day.  The  heads  of  the  Church  checked  these 
dangerous  symptoms  by  injunctions  for  which  they 
claimed  to  have  the  authority  of  Jesus:  "Let  your- 
selves not  be  deceived ;  for  many  will  come  in  my 
name,  saying,  ^I  am  the  Messiah,'  and  will  deceive 
many.  .  .  .  Then,  if  any  come  and  say,  '  The  Messiah 
is  here,*  or  '  He  is  there,'  do  not  believe  it.  For  there 
will  arise  false  messiahs  and  false  prophets,  who  will 
work  great  wonders,  so  as  to  deceive,  if  possible,  even 
the  very  elect.  Remember  that  I  have  told  you  before- 
hand. If  then  they  come  and  say,  '  Come,  see ;  he  is 
in  the  desert,'  do  not  go ;  or,  *  Come,  see ;  he  is  in  a 
hiding-place,'  do  not  believe  it." 

No  doubt  there  were  some  apostasies,  and  even  be- 
trayals of  brother  by  brother ;  and  divisions  of  policy 
brought  about  coldness  of  heart.^  But  the  greater 
number,  while  deeply  feeling  the  critical  state  of 
Israel,  lent  no  hand  to  anarchy,  even  under  the  guise 
of  patriotism.  The  Christian  manifesto  of  this  sol- 
emn   hour    was   a   discourse    ascribed   to  Jesus,^  —  a 

'  Matt.  xxiv.  4,  5;  Mark  xiii.  5,  6.  Simon,  one  of  the  apostles,  is 
called  a  "zealot"  in  Luke  vi.  15,  and  Acts  i.  13;  and  "  Canaauite  " 
(kannd)  in  Matt.  x.  4 ;  Mark  iii.  18. 

2  Matt.  xxiv.  10,  12. 

8  Matt.  xxiv. ;  Mark  xiii. ;  modified,  as  usual,  by  Luke  xix.  43,  44 ; 
xxi.  20-36.     Comp.  Assumpt.  of  Moses,  ch.  8,  10. 


238  ANTICHRIST. 

sort  of  apocalypse,  an  enlargement,  possibly,  of  words 
spoken  by  the  Master,  which  pointed  out  the  con- 
nection of  the  final  catastrophe  —  now  thought  to 
be  very  near  —  with  the  political  condition  of  the 
time.  The  entire  passage  was  not  written  out  till 
later,  after  the  siege ;  but  some  words,  reported  as  if 
from  Jesus,  refer  to  the  very  moment  now  under  our 
eye  :  "  When  you  see  the  abomination  of  desolation 
spoken  of  by  the  prophet  Daniel,^  standing  in  the  holy 
place,  —  here  let  the  reader  understand"  (a  phrase 
familiar  in  such  writings),  — "  then  let  those  who  are 
in  Judaea  flee  to  the  mountains ;  let  not  him  who  is  on 
the  house-top  come  down  to  take  anything  from  the 
house;  let  not  him  who  is  in  the  field  come  back  to 
find  his  clothes.  Alas  for  the  women  with  child  or  who 
have  nursing-infants  in  those  days  !  Pray,  too,  that 
your  flight  may  not  be  in  the  winter  or  on  the  sabbath : 
for  then  there  will  be  such  misery  as  there  has  not 
been  from  the  beginning  of  the  world  till  now,  and  will 
never  be  again." 

Other  visions  of  like  purport  were  floating  about,  it 
would  seem,  under  the  name  of  Enoch,  showing  curious 
coincidences  with  those  ascribed  to  Jesus.  Tn  one  of 
them,  the  divine  Wisdom^  introduced  as  a  prophetic 

^  Dan.  ix.  27;  xi.  31;  xii.  11.  Whatever  the  meaning  in  Hebrew, 
the  Greek  expression  (/SScXvy/^ta  r^s  iprjfxaxrcfas)  certainly  meant  to  the 
readers  of  the  first  century  some  profanation  of  the  Temple  (see  Matt, 
xxiv.  15;  Mark  xiii.  14;  1  Mace.  i.  54).  The  word  ''standing"  would 
suggest  a  statue ;  but  it  is  idle  to  suppose  that  Titus  set  up  a  statue  within 
the  precincts  of  the  Temple.  Besides,  we  have  here  to  do  with  a  profan- 
ing before  the  capture  of  the  city  by  Titus,  as  appears  both  from  the  texts 
above  cited,  and  from  Josephus,  Wars,  iv.  6:  3,  —  the  prophecies  of  which 
he  speaks  vaguely  seem  to  be  those  of  the  "  abomination."  The  passage 
shows,  at  all  events,  that  the  profanation  by  the  Zealots  was  regarded  as 
inseparable  from  the  ruin  of  the  city. 


VESPASIAN  IN  GALILEE.  239 

person,  reproaches  the  people  with  its  crimes,  its  mur- 
ders of  prophets,  and  its  hardness  of  heart.^  Frag- 
ments which  we  may  suppose  to  have  been  taken  from 
it  alhide  to  the  murder  of  Zachariah,  "  son  of  Baruch."  '^ 
There  is  hint,  also,  of  a  "  culmination  of  horror  "  (reXetoj/ 
(TKoipSakov),^  requiring  that  "  for  the  elect's  sake  "  those 
days  should  be  shortened.  This  highest  degree  of  hor- 
ror to  which  man's  depravity  can  attain  seems  to  be 
the  profaning  of  the  Temple  by  the  Zealots.  Such 
atrocities  prove  that  the  coming  of  the  "  well-beloved  " 
is  near  at  hand,  and  that  the  vengeance  of  the  just 
cannot  be  long  delayed.  The  true  Judaeo-Christians 
still  clung  so  strongly  to  the  Temple  that  such  a  sacri- 
lege must  fill  them  with  terror.  Nothing  like  it  had 
been  seen  since  the  days  of  Nebuchadnezzar. 

All  the  family  of  Jesus  felt  that  it  was  time  to  flee. 
The  murder  of  James  had  already  greatly  weakened 
the  attachment  of  the  Christians  at  Jerusalem  to  Jew- 
ish ortliodoxy ;  the  rift  between  church  and  synagogue 
was  widening  every  day.  The  hatred  of  the  Jews  for 
the  pious  sectaries,  no  longer  restrained  by  Roman  au- 
thority, led  no  doubt  to  many  a  deed  of  violence.* 
Besides,  the  life  of  those  holy  men  who  abode  near  the 
Temple,  and  offered  their  prayers  in  its  courts,  was 
greatly  disturbed  ever  since  the  Temple  had  been 
changed  to  a  barrack  and  stained  by  slaughter.  Some 
went  so  far  as  to  say  that  the  proper  name  of  a  city 

1  Ep.  of  Barnabas,  iv.,  xvi. ;  Luke  xi.  49;  "Life  of  Jesus/'  20,  41, 
43,  n.,  341. 

2  "  Barachias,"  Matt,  xxiii.  35.  But  there  may  be  confusion  with 
the  son  of  Jehoiada.     See  "  Life  of  Jesus,"  p.  341. 

2  Barnabas,  iv.,  —  a  passage  not  found  in  Enoch  as  now  known;  of. 
Matt.  xxiv.  22. 

*  Euseb.  iii.  5:  2  (a  poor  authority). 


240  ANTICHRIST. 

SO  profaned  was  no  longer  Zion,  but  Sodom ;  and  that 
the  true  Israelite  was  here  held  in  bonds  like  his  fathers 
in  Egypt.' 

The  flight  seems  to  have  been  resolved  on  early  in 
the  year  68.^  To  give  more  authority  to  this  step,  it 
was  reported  that  a  revelation  to  that  effect  had  been 
given  to  the  leaders,  —  according  to  some,  through  an 
angel.^  All,  it  is  likely,  answered  to  the  word  of  com- 
mand, none  of  the  brethren  remaining  in  the  city  which 
a  true  instinct  warned  them  was  devoted  to  destruction. 

There  are  indications  that  the  flight  of  this  peaceful 
flock  was  not  effected  without  danger.  The  Jews,  it 
appears,  gave  chase.*  The  terrorists,  in  fact,  kept  a 
sharp  watch  upon  the  roads,  and  slew  as  traitors  all 
who  tried  to  fly,  except  on  payment  of  a  heavy  ransom.^ 
A  circumstance  hinted  to  us  in  obscure  words  saved  the 
fugitives :  "  The  dragon  poured  forth  after  the  woman 
[the  Church]  a  flood  of  water  to  sweep  her  away  and 
drown  her;  but  the  earth  helped  the  woman,  opened 
its  mouth,  and  drank  up  the  stream  which  the  dragon 
poured  forth  after  her;   and  the  dragon  was  full  of 

^  Rev.  xi.  8:  '*  the  great  city  mystically  called  Sodom  and  Egypt." 

^  Matt.  xxiv.  15-19;  Mark  xiii.  14-18  (ver.  7  shows  that  it  was  not  at 
the  beginning  of  the  war).  Luke  (xxi.  20,  21)  does  not  accord  with 
these,  and  is  surely  of  far  less  authority.  He  says  that  the  order  to  flee 
was  to  be  given  when  the  city  was  first  surrounded ;  but  then  it  would 
have  been  too  late  (comp.  xix.  43,  44).  The  Apocalypse  (xii.  6,  13-17), 
written  in  68  or  69,  represents  that  the  flight  has  already  taken  place: 
this  is  decisive  (comp.  Euseb.  iii.  5;  Epiph.  xxix.  7;  xxx.  2;  De  men- 
suris,  etc.,  15). 

8  Euseb.  iii.  5;  Epiph.  De  mens.  15.  The  expression  of  the  latter  in 
Hcer.  xxix.  7,  may  be  understood  of  an  order  supposed  to  have  been 
given  from  Jesus  himself  at  the  time,  or  may  refer  to  Luke  xxi.  20 ;  but 
the  other  passage  admits  only  the  former  sense,  —  "  announced  by  an 
angel,"  etc. 

*  Rev.  xii.  13,  15.  «  Jos.  Wars,  iv.  7 :  3. 


VESPASIAN  IN  GALILEE.  241 

wrath  against  the  woman."  ^  Here  the  dragon  repre- 
sents the  spirit  of  Evil,  sometimes  as  exhibited  in  the 
Roman  power,  sometimes  in  the  violent  party  of  Jerusa- 
lem. It  is  not  likely  that  the  mishap  of  the  fugitives 
befell  them  from  the  Romans.  Probably  the  Zealots 
attempted  to  drown  the  holy  company  in  the  Jordan, 
but  they  succeeded  in  fording  the  river  where  the 
water  was  shallow ;  or  again,  the  troop  sent  to  attack 
them  may  have  missed  its  way,  and  so  have  lost  trace 
of  them. 

The  spot  chosen  by  the  leaders  as  the  chief  refuge 
of  the  escaping  church  was  Pella,^  a  city  of  the  Decap- 
olis,  near  the  left  bank  of  the  Jordan,  finely  situated 
on  an  eminence  commanding  the  whole  plain  of  the 
Ghor  on  one  side,  and  on  the  other  guarded  by  preci- 
pices with  a  torrent  flowing  at  their  foot.^  A  better 
choice  could  not  have  been  made.  Judaea,  Idumaea, 
Persea,  and  Galilee  were  in  full  insurrection ;  Samaria 
and  the  sea-coast  were  in  great  disturbance  from  the 
war;  and  thus  Scythopolis  and  Pella  were  the  two 
neutral  towns  easiest  of  approach  from  Jerusalem. 
Pella,  from  its  position  beyond  Jordan,  would  offer 
greater  quiet  than  Scythopolis,*  which  was  a  strong- 
hold of  the  Romans.  Pella  was  a  free  city,  like  all 
the  towns  of  the  Decapolis,  but  seems  to  have  been 
given  to  Agrippa.  To  take  refuge  here  was  an  open 
declaration  of  horror  at  the  revolt.     The  importance 

1  Rev.  xii.  13-15. 

2  Now  FaU,  or  Tahdkal  Fahil  (Ritter,  Erdk.  xv.  786, 1003,  1025;  Rob- 
inson, iii.  320;  Van  de  Velde's  maps ;  and  comp.  Euseb  and  Epiph.  loc.  cit. 
One  of  the  victories  that  gained  Palestine  to  the  Moslems  was  at  this 
place. 

8  Trby  and  Mangles  (London,  1823),  304,  305;  Robinson,  l.c, 
*  Meuke,  Bibelatlast  No.  5. 

16 


24*  ANTICHRIST, 

of  Pella  dates  from  the  Macedonian  conquest.  A 
colony  of  Alexander's  veterans  was  established  there, 
changing  its  former  name  into  another  which  reminded 
the  old  soldiers  of  their  fatherland.^  It  was  taken  by 
Alexander  Jannaeus ;  and  the  Greeks  there,  refusing 
to  be  circumcised,  suffered  greatly  from  Jewish  fanati- 
cism.^ The  pagan  population  had  again  struck  root 
there ;  in  the  massacres  of  66  Pella  appears  as  a 
Syrian  town,  and  was  again  sacked  by  Jews.^  In  this 
old  anti-Jewish  town  the  church  of  Jerusalem  found  a 
retreat  during  the  horrors  of  the  siege.  Here  it  pros- 
pered, regarding  this  quiet  abode  as  a  sure  place,  a 
wilderness  provided  them  by  God,  where  they  might 
peacefully  await  the  hour  of  Jesus'  coming,  far  from 
strifes  of  men. 

The  community  lived  from  the  stores  it  had  laid 
aside-  It  was  believed  to  be  sustained  by  the  care  of 
God  himself ;  *  and  many  saw  in  this  kindly  lot,  so 
different  from  that  of  the  Jews,  a  miracle  predicted  by 
the  prophets.^  No  doubt  the  Galilaean  Christians,  on 
their  part,  had  passed  to  the  eastward  of  the  Jordan 
and  the  lake,  into  Batansea  and  the  Gaulonitis,  and  thus 
the  dominions  of  Agrippa  became  an  adoptive  country 
for  the  Jewish  Christians  of  Palestine.  What  gives 
unique  importance  to  this  Christian  retreat  is  that  the 
church  brought  with  it  the  residue  of  the  household 
of  Jesus,  who  were  held  in  the  highest  honour,  and 

^  George  Syncellus,  p.  274.  Apamgea  was  called  Pella  for  the  same 
reason  (Strabo,  xvi.  2 :  10).  Pella  of  the  Decapolis  had  the  distinguishing 
surname,  "rich  in  water"  (PJiny,  v.  18) ► 

2  Jos.  Antiq.  xiii.  15:  4. 

8  Ihid.  Wars,  ii.  18:  1;  iii.  3:  5. 

4  Rev.  xii.  6,  14. 

^  Euseb.  Demonstr.  evang.  vi.  18. 


VESPASIAN  IN  GALILEE.  243 

were  designated  by  a  special  title,  as  ^'  Kindred  of  the 
Master."  ^  We  soon  find  this  trans- Jordanic  Christian 
community  continuing  the  Ebionite  tradition,  —  that  is, 
the  tradition  of  the  very  word  of  Jesus  \  ^  and  here  the 
Synoptic  Gospels  have  their  birth. 

1  Af oTrdtrvi/ot :  Euseb.  i.  7:  14.     [The  word  also  means  "Princes;  '*  see 
Sophocles,  Lexicon  of  later  Greek.] 
*  Epiph.  xxix.  7;  xxx.  2. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE   DEATH   OF   NERO.  —  A.  D.  68. 

Vespasian  resumed  his  campaign  at  the  first  opening 
of  spring  in  the  year  68.  His  plan,  as  I  have  said 
before,  was  to  crush  Judaism  step  by  step,  advancing 
from  the  north  and  west  toward  the  south  and  east ;  to 
force  the  flying  to  shut  themselves  up  in  Jerusalem, 
and  here  to  slaughter  the  rebellious  mass  without  mercy. 
He  thus  advanced  as  far  as  Emmaus,^  seven  leagues 
from  Jerusalem,  at  the  foot  of  the  great  ascent  leading 
from  the  plain  of  Lydda  to  the  holy  city.  He  judged 
that  it  was  not  yet  time  to  attack  the  city ;  meanwhile 
he  ravaged  Idumasa,  then  Samaria,  and  on  the  third  of 
June  fixed  his  headquarters  at  Jericho,  whence  he  sent 
to  slaughter  the  Jews  of  Peraea.  Jerusalem  was  shut 
in  on  every  side,  surrounded  by  a  circle  of  extermina- 
tion. Vespasian  then  returned  to  Caesarea,  to  get  all 
his  forces  together.     Here  he  received  tidings  which 

^  Emmaus  or  Ammaus,  afterwards  Nicopolis,  at  present  the  village 
Amwas,  not  far  from  the  travelled  road,  about  half-way  between  Jaffa 
and  Jerusalem.  There  was,  I  think,  another  Emmaus,  some  five  miles 
from  Jerusalem,  —  the  present  village  Kulonie  (Luke  xxiv.  13  ;  Jos. 
Wars^  vii.  6:6),  whose  name  is  probably  derived  irova  Hammo(;a,  "the 
spring  "  (Josh,  xviii.  26  ;  Bab.  Talm.  Succa,  45a).  See  "  The  Apostles," 
18,  19;  but  note  Robinson,  iii.  146;  Guerin,  Palest,  i.  257,  293;  Neu- 
bauer,  Geog.  du  Talm.  100.  The  passage  in  Luke  is  absurd  if  applying 
to  a  place  seven  leagues  away.  Kulonia  (or  Kulondia)  must  be  a  Latin 
word,  not  the  KovXw  (lxx.)  of  Josh.  xv.  60.  Comp.  Gratz,  Monatsschr., 
1869,  pp.  117-121. 


THE  DEATH  OF  NERO.  245 

stopped  him  short,  and  had  the  result  of  protracting 
for  two  years  longer  the  resistance  and  revolution  at 
Jerusalem.^ 

Nero  died  on  the  ninth  of  June.  During  the  great 
struggles  in  Judaea  just  related  he  was  living  his  artist 
life  in  Greece,  and  he  did  not  return  to  Rome  until  the 
end  of  67.  He  had  never  enjoyed  so  much  in  all  his 
life.  To  gratify  him,  all  the  games  had  heen  crowded 
into  a  single  year.  All  the  cities  sent  him  the  prizes 
of  their  contests.  Committees  were  continually  wait- 
ing on  him,  to  beg  him  to  go  and  sing  at  every  place. 
This  big  boy,  insatiate  of  novelty  (or  else  in  mockery) 
beyond  all  parallel,  was  transported  with  delight. 
"  The  Greeks,"  said  he,  "  are  the  only  real  listeners  ; 
the  Greeks  alone  are  worthy  of  me  and  my  exertions." 
He  loaded  them  with  privileges  ;  proclaimed  the  free- 
dom of  Greece  at  the  Isthmian  games ;  handsomely 
rewarded  the  oracles  that  prophesied  to  please  him, 
and  suppressed  those  he  did  not  like ;  and,  says  Lucian, 
gave  orders  to  strangle  a  singer  who  did  not  lower  his 
voice  so  as  to  put  his  own  in  proper  relief.^  Helius, 
one  of  the  worthless  wretches  whom  he  had  left  behind 
at  Eome  with  full  powers  over  the  city  and  senate, 
urged  him  to  return,  as  very  serious  political  symptoms 
began  to  show  themselves.  Nero  replied  that  his  first 
duty  was  to  his  own  reputation,  for  he  must  husband 
his  resources  against  the  time  when  he  should  no  longer 
be  emperor.  His  continual  thought  was,  in  fact,  that 
if  fortune  should  ever  reduce  him  to  a  private  condi- 
tion, he  might  maintain  himself  by  his  art ;  ^  and  when 

1  Jos.  Wars,  iv.  8-9:2. 

2  Nero,  sen  de  IstJimo,  9. 

8  Suet.  Nero,  40;  Dion  Cass.  Ixiii.  27. 


246  ANTICHRIST. 

any  one  remarked  that  he  was  fatiguing  himself  too 
much,  he  would  say  that  the  practice  which  was  now 
only  his  relaxation  as  a  prince  might  some  day  be  the 
means  of  earning  his  daily  bread.  One  of  the  things 
most  flattering  to  the  vanity  of  men  of  pleasure,  who 
dabble  a  little  in  art  or  literature,  is  to  imagine  that  if 
they  were  poor  their  talent  would  support  them.  Then, 
too,  his  voice  was  weak  and  dull,  though  he  took  the 
absurdest  medical  prescriptions  of  the  time  to  preserve 
it;  his  singing-master  never  left  him,  and  was  con- 
stantly ordering  the  most  childish  precautions.  One  is 
ashamed  to  think  that  Greece  was  dishonoured  by  this 
ignoble  masquerade.  A  few  cities,  however,  preserved 
their  self-respect.  The  wretched  pretender  did  not 
dare  to  enter  Athens,  and  was  never  invited  there.-^ 

Meanwhile  the  most  alarming  news  kept  coming  in. 
He  had  now  been  almost  a  year  away  from  Rome,^  and 
gave  orders  to  return.  The  return  was  like  the  jour- 
ney.^  In  every  city  he  received  triumphal  honours; 
the  walls  were  torn  down  to  let  him  enter.  At  Rome 
there  was  unexampled  revelry.  He  rode  upon  the 
chariot  in  which  Augustus  had  triumphed ;  beside  him 
sat  the  musician  Diodorus ;  on  his  head  he  wore  the 
Olympic  wreath ;  in  his  right  hand  he  bore  the  Pythian 
laurel,  while  the  other  crowns  were  carried  before  him ; 
on  placards,  to  declare  his  victories,  were  written  the 
names  of  those  he  had  vanquished  and  the  titles  of  the 
pieces  he  had  played ;  then  followed  men  trained  in 

1  Suet.  Nero,  20-25,  53-55;  Dion  Cass.  Ixiii.  8-18;  Eus.  Chron.  12; 
Carm.  Sibyll.  v.  136;  xii.  90-92;  Philostr.  Apoll.  iv.  39  ;  v.  7,  8,  22,  23,- 
Themistius,  Or.  19;  Lucian,  Nero;  Julien,  Cces.  310. 

2  Tillemont,  Hist,  des  Emp.  i.  320. 
8  Dion  Cass.  Ixiii.  19-21. 


THE  DEATH  OF  NERO.  247 

tlie  three  kinds  of  applause  he  had  invented,  and  the 
''  Knights  of  Augustus ;  "  and  the  archway  of  the  Circus 
Maximus  was  overthrown  to  let  him  enter.  On  every 
side  shouts  were  heard  :  "  Cheers  to  the  Olympian  con- 
queror !  To  the  Pythian  conqueror  !  Augustus !  Au- 
gustus !  To  the  Nero-Hercules  !  to  Nero-Apollo  !  ^  The 
only  all-round  conqueror  !  the  only  one  that  ever  was  ! 
Augustus  !  0  sacred  voice  !  happy  he  that  hears  !  " 
The  eighteen  hundred  and  eight  crowns  he  had  won 
were  displayed  in  the  great  Circus,  fastened  to  the 
Egyptian  obelisk  which  Augustus  had  set  there  as 
goal.2 

At  length  there  was  a  revolt  of  conscience  in  the 
nobler  portion  of  the  human  race.  The  East,  excepting 
Judaea,  endured  this  shameful  tyranny  without  a  blush, 
and  even  found  itself  at  ease  under  its  burden ;  but  in 
the  West  the  sense  of  honour  was  still  alive.  It  is  one 
of  the  glories  of  Gaul  that  the  overthrow  of  such  a 
tyrant  was  her  deed.^  While  the  German  soldiers, 
hating  the  Republic,  and  slaves  to  their  maxim  of 
fidelity,  played  —  with  Nero  as  with  all  the  emperors 
—  the  part  of  good  hirelings  and  body-guard,*  a  cry  of 

^  Eckhel,  vi.  275,  276 ;  Suet.  Nero^  25  ;  Museum  of  the  Vatican : 
bust  No.  308. 

"^  One  would  like  to  think  that  the  circus  and  obelisk  which  Dion 
Cassius  speaks  of  were  the  same  that,  four  years  before,  had  witnessed 
the  horrid  scenes  of  the  Danaids  and  Dirces  and  perhaps  Peter's  cruci- 
fixion. But  the  Circus  Maximus  —  which,  like  that  of  the  Vatican,  had 
an  obelisk  from  Heliopolis,  now  in  the  Pi'arza  del  Popolo  —  was  better 
suited  to  Xero's  exhibition.  That  of  the  Vatican  was,  it  is  likely,  taken 
instead  for  the  piacula  of  August,  64,  because  the  other  was  ruined  for  the 
purpose  by  the  fire. 

«  Suet.  Nero,  40. 

*  Suet.  Cairn,  43,  58;  Galha,  12;  Tac.  Hist.  i.  31;  iii.  69;  Plut.  Galha, 
5,  6,  18.  Comp.  Henzen,  Annnles,  etc.,  xxii.  13;  and  the  inscriptions  in 
Orelli,  2909,  3539 ;  Fabretti,  p.  687,  Nos.  97,  98. 


248  ANTICHRIST, 

revolt  was  uttered  by  an  Aqiiitanian,  a  descendant  of 
ancient  kings.  The  movement  was  truly  Gallic ;  ^ 
without  reckoning  consequences,  the  Gallic  legions 
plunged  headlong  into  the  revolution.  The  signal  was 
given  by  Vindex  about  the  fifteenth  of  March,  68.  The 
news  came  speedily  to  Rome.  The  walls  were  soon 
scrawled  with  insulting  inscriptions.  "  By  his  sing- 
ing," said  these  ill  jesters,  "he  has  roused  the  cocks'' 
[galbs)  !  At  first,  Nero  only  laughed  at  the  jest ;  he 
was  even  well  pleased  with  the  chance  of  enriching 
himself  by  plunder  of  the  Gauls.  He  continued  to 
sing  and  amuse  himself  till  Yindex  posted  placards  in 
which  he  was  described  as  a  wretched  artist.  Then, 
from  Naples,  where  he  was,  the  play-actor  wrote  to  the 
Senate  demanding  vengeance,  and  set  out  for  Rome,  — 
with  the  pretence,  however,  that  his  business  was  only 
about  certain  musical  instruments,  in  particular  a  kind 
of  hydraulic  organ,  about  which  he  gravely  consulted 
the  Senate  and  the  Knights. 

The  news  that  Galba  had  revolted  on  the  third  of 
April,  and  that  Spain  had  sided  with  Gaul,  which 
reached  him  while  at  dinner,  struck  him  like  a  thun- 
derbolt. He  threw  down  the  dinner-table,  tore  the 
letter,  broke  in  a  passion  two  costly  carved  vases  from 
which  he  used  to  drink.  In  the  absurd  preparations 
he  began  to  make,  his  first  care  was  for  his  instru- 
ments and  stage-equipment,^  and  for  his  women,  whom 
he  made  to  dress,  like  amazons,  in  skins,  carrying  axes, 
and  with  hair  close  cut.  There  were  strange  alterna- 
tions of  despondency  and  of  woful  jesting,  which  it  is 

^  Tac.  Hist.  i.  51;  iv.  17;  Suet.  Nero,  40,  43,  45;  Dion  Cass.  Ixiii 
22;  Jos.  Wars,  pr.  2;  iv.  8:  1. 
2  Suet.  Nero,  44. 


THE  DEATH  OF  NERO.  249 

equally  hard  to  take  as  sane  or  insane,  since  all  of 
Nero's  acts  hovered  between  the  black  malice  of  an 
evil-hearted  dunce  and  the  dreary  irony  of  a  used-up 
debauchee.  He  had  no  idea  that  was  not  childish.^ 
The  world  of  affected  art  in  which  he  lived  had  made 
him  a  complete  simpleton.  At  times  he  thought  not  of 
resistance,  but  of  going,  unarmed,  to  weep  before  his 
enemies,  fancying  he  might  move  them;  and  already 
he  was  composing  the  song  of  victory  that  should  cele- 
brate their  reconciliation  on  the  morrow.  At  other 
times  he  wished  to  massacre  the  whole  Senate,  burn 
Rome  a  second  time,  and  during  the  conflagration  turn 
loose  upon  the  city  the  wild  beasts  of  the  amphitheatre. 
The  Gauls  were  the  chief  objects  of  his  rage :  he  talked 
of  slaughtering  those  who  were  in  Rome,  as  favourers 
of  their  countrymen,  and  ready  to  join  them.^  From 
time  to  time  he  had  the  thought  of  changing  the  seat 
of  empire,^  and  retiring  to  Alexandria.  He  called  to 
mind  that  certain  prophecies  had  promised  him  the 
empire  of  the  East,  and  in  particular  the  kingdom  of 
Jerusalem.  He  dreamed  that  he  might  find  a  living  in 
his  musical  talent ;  and  the  chance  of  this,  which  would 
be  the  best  proof  of  his  skill,  gave  him  a  secret  joy. 
Then  he  would  console  himself  with  literature :  he  re- 
marked that  his  situation  was  peculiar ;  everything  that 
happened  to  him  was  without  parallel ;  no  prince  had 
in  his  lifetime  lost  so  vast  an  empire.  Even  on  the 
days  of  his  keenest  anguish  he  changed  nothing  of  his 
customs;  he  would  talk  more  of  books  than  of  the 
doings  of  the  Gauls ;  he  would  sing,  make  display  of 
wit,  go  to  the  theatre  in  disguise,  or  write  privately  to 

1  Suet.  Nero,  43,  47;  Dion  Cass.  Ixiii.  27. 

a  Suet.  Nero,  43.  «  Aur.  Vict.  14. 


250  ANTICHRIST. 

an  actor  whom  he  liked :  "  Hold  back  a  man  so  busy 
as  I?  't  is  a  crime  !  '*  ^ 

Discord  in  the  Gallic  camps,  the  death  of  Yindex, 
the  weakness  of  Galba,  might  perhaps  have  delayed 
the  deliverance  of  the  world,  but  that  the  army  at 
Rome  at  length  declared  itself.  The  praetorians  re- 
volted, and  proclaimed  Galba  emperor  on  the  eighth  of 
June.  Nero  saw  that  all  was  lost.  His  perverse  genius 
suggested  to  him  nothing  that  was  not  grotesque.  He 
would  put  on  mourning,  and  thus  arrayed  would  go 
forth  to  harangue  the  people,  use  all  his  scenic  skill  to 
move  their  pity,  and  thus  obtain  their  pardon  for  the 
past,  or,  if  nothing  better,  at  least  the  government  of 
Egypt.  He  wrote  out  his  appeal,  of  which,  says  Sue- 
tonius, a  draft  was  found  after  his  death;  but  was 
warned  that  before  he  could  reach  the  Forum  he  would 
be  torn  to  pieces.  He  went  to  bed ;  then,  waking  at 
midnight,  he  found  himself  without  guards :  men  were 
already  plundering  his  chamber.  He  went  out  and 
knocked  at  several  doors,  but  no  one  answered.  He 
went  back,  wished  to  die,  called  for  the  gladiator  Spi- 
culus,  a  brilliant  swordsman,  one  of  the  "  stars  "  of  the 
amphitheatre.  Every  one  fell  away.  He  went  out 
again,  roamed  solitary  about  the  streets,  was  going  to 
throw  himself  into  the  Tiber,  but  returned  upon  his 
steps,  the  world  seeming  all  void  about  him.  His 
freedman  Phaon  then  offered  as  a  refuge  his  villa,  sit- 
uated between  the  Salarian  and  Nomentan  ways,  near 
the  fourth  milestone  from  the  city.^  Wretched  and 
half-clad,  wrapped  in  a  shabby  cloak,  mounted  on  a 

^  Suet.  Nero^  40,  42.     [The  last  anecdote  is  not  found  in  Suetonius.] 
2  It  must  have  been  a  little  beyond  the  Anio  (Teverone)  on  the  via 
Patenaria.    Platner  and  Bunsen,  Beschreibung,  etc.,  i.  675;  iii.  2,  p.  455. 


THE  DEATH  OF  NERO.  251 

sorry  beast,  with  his  face  covered  so  as  not  to  be 
known,  he  went  forth  attended  by  three  or  four  of  his 
freedmen,  among  them  Phaon,  Sporus,  and  his  secretary 
Epaphroditus.  It  was  not  yet  daylight.  As  he  went 
out  by  the  Colline  gate,  passing  near  the  praBtorian 
camp,  he  overheard  the  cries  of  soldiers,  who  cursed 
him  while  proclaiming  Galba.  A  dead  body  had  been 
cast  out  on  the  highway,  and  his  horse,  starting  sud- 
denly, betrayed  him.  Still  he  succeeded  in  reaching 
Phaon's  villa,  crawling  on  his  belly  under  some  briers, 
or  crouching  behind  the  rushes. 

His  mocking  temper,  his  street  slang,  did  not  fail 
him  here.  They  wished  to  hide  him  in  a  shallow 
clay-pit,  such  as  are  common  thereabout,  and  this  gave 
him  the  opportunity  for  a  grim  joke  :  "  What  a  fate  it 
is,  to  go  underground  alive  !  "  His  discourse  was  like 
a  running  fire  of  classic  quotations,  interlarded  with  the 
stale  buffooneries  of  a  circus  clown.  At  every  point  he 
had  some  bookish  anecdote  or  some  cold  antithesis  : 
"  He  who  once  walked  proudly  with  a  numerous  train 
has  with  him  now  only  three  freedmen."  At  times  the 
memory  of  his  victims  would  come  back  to  him,  but 
led  only  to  mere  figures  of  speech,  never  to  the  moral 
emotion  of  remorse.  The  comedian  outlived  all  else. 
The  situation  was  to  him  only  one  more  act  in  the 
play,  which  he  had  already  rehearsed.  Recalling  the 
parts  in  which  he  had  figured, — a  parricide,  or  a  prince 
reduced  to  be  a  beggar,  —  he  remarked  that  he  was 
now  playing  it  through  in  his  own  person ;  and  would 
sing  the  verse  which  a  tragedian  once  put  in  the  mouth 
of  (Edipus  :  — 

My  doom  of  death  is  spoken  by  my  father,  mother,  wife.* 
1  Dion  Cass.  Ixili.  28 ;   Suet.  Nero,  46. 


252  ANTICHRIST. 

Incapable  of  serious  thought,  he  bade  them  dig  a  grave 
to  the  measure  of  his  body,  and  bring  bits  of  stone, 
wood,  and  water  for  his  burial  rites,  —  all  the  while 
sobbing,  and  saying,  "What  an  artist  is  about  to  die ! " 
Meanwhile  Phaon's  messenger  brought  him  a  de- 
spatch, which  Nero  snatched  from  him  and  read,  —  that 
the  Senate  had  declared  him  a  public  enemy,  and  con- 
demned him  to  punishment  "after  the  ancient  custom." 
"What  custom  is  that?"  he  asked.  The  reply  was 
that  the  condemned  person's  bare  head  is  made  fast  in 
a  forked  stick ;  he  is  then  beaten  to  death  with  rods, 
and  his  body  is  dragged  by  a  hook  to  be  cast  into 
the  Tiber.  He  shivered,  took  two  daggers  which  he 
had  about  him,  felt  their  point,  and  put  them  back, 
saying  "The  fatal  hour  is  not  yet  come."  He  then 
urged  Sporus  to  begin  the  funeral  wail,  and  tried  again 
to  kill  himself,  but  could  not.  His  awkwardness,  his 
strange  faculty  of  making  every  fibre  of  the  soul  ring 
false,  the  laughter  as  of  both  beast  and  devil,  the  clumsy 
vainglory  which  makes  his  whole  life  seem  like  the 
discordant  cries  of  a  grotesque  witches'  revel,  reach  the 
very  sublime  of  the  ridiculous.  He  could  not  succeed 
in  killing  himself.  "  May  there  not  be  some  one  here," 
he  asked,  "to  set  me  the  example  ? "  He  went  back  to 
his  quotations,  talked  to  himself  in  Greek,  and  made 
scraps  of  verse.  All  at  once  the  sound  was  heard  of  a 
troop  of  horsemen,  coming  to  seize  him  alive.  And  he 
recited  from  Homer,  — 

The  tramp  of  heavy  horses  is  sounding  in  mine  ears.^ 

Then  Epaphroditus  pushed  against  the  dagger,  and  the 
point  entered  his  throat.     At  this  moment  the  centu- 

1  Iliad,  X,  535. 


THE  DEATH  OF  NERO.  253 

rion  came  up,  tried  to  stop  the  blood,  and  pretended 
that  he  had  come  to  save  him.  "  Too  late !  "  gasped 
the  dying  wretch,  his  eyes  standing  out,  and  his  flesh 
chilled  with  terror.  "  That  is  your  fidelity !  "  were  his 
last  w^ords  in  dying.^  This  was  his  master-stroke  of 
comedy,  —  Nero,  letting  fall  a  melancholy  plaint  at  the 
iniquity  of  his  age,  the  vanishing  of  good  faith  and 
virtue  !  Plaiidite !  The  play  is  over.  This  once,  thou 
Nature  of  a  thousand  moods,  thou  hast  found  an  actor 
worthy  to  play  such  a  part ! 

He  had  it  much  at  heart  that  his  head  should  not  be 
given  up  to  insult,  and  that  his  entire  body  should  be 
burned.  His  two  nurses,  and  Acte,  who  still  loved 
him,  buried  him  secretly  in  a  costly  shroud  of  white, 
stitched  with  gold,  with  the  luxury  which  they  knew 
had  been  dear  to  him.  His  ashes  were  put  in  the  tomb 
of  the  Domitii,  a  great  mausoleum  overlooking  the  hill 
of  Gardens  (the  Pincian\  in  fine  view  from  the  Campus 
Martins,  the  site  of  the  modern  city.^  From  this  site 
his  phantom  haunted  the  Middle  Age  like  a  vampire. 
To  lay  the  ghosts  which  disturbed  that  quarter  was 
built  the  church  inscribed  to  the  holy  Virgin  of  the 
People  {Santa  Maria  del  popolo). 

Thus,  at  the  age  of  thirty-one,  after  a  reign  of 
thirteen  years  and  eight  months,  died  a  sovereign,  not 
the  maddest  or  wickedest,  but  the  most  vain  and 
ridiculous  that  chance  ever  lifted  to  the  upper  levels  of 

1  Suet.  Nero,  40-50;  Dion  Cass.  Ixiii.  22-29;  Zonaras,  xi.  13;  Pliny, 
xxxvii.  2:  10. 

2  If  Lactantius  did  not  know  this  monument  when  he  wrote  De  morti- 
hua  persecu*orum  (see  chap,  ii.),  it  follows  that  he  had  never  been  in  Rome. 
Traces  of  the  villa  of  Domitius  are  thought  to  have  been  found  in  the  city 
wall  at  the  end  of  the  promenade  of  the  Piucian  (Platner  and  Bunsen, 
iii.  2  :  5G9-571). 


254  ANTICHRIST, 

history.  Nero  is,  first  of  all,  a  literary  distortion.  He 
was  far  from  being  devoid  of  all  talent  or  all  right 
feeling,  —  this  unfortunate  youth,  drugged  with  base 
literature,  drunk  with  declamatory  nonsense,  who  for- 
got the  empire  in  his  music-lessons;  who,  when  he 
learned  the  revolt  of  the  Gauls,  would  not  tear  himself 
away  from  the  spectacle  he  was  witnessing,  applauded 
the  victorious  athlete,  and  for  several  days  thought 
only  of  his  lyre  and  his  voice. ^  In  all  this,  the  chief 
fault  lay  with  the  people,  greedy  of  enjoyment,  and  de- 
manding of  its  sovereign  pleasure  above  all  things ;  and 
with  the  false  taste  of  the  period,  which  reversed  the 
standard  of  greatness,  giving  too  high  a  prize  of  fame 
to  the  man  of  letters  and  the  artist.  The  danger  of 
literary  education  is  that  it  inspires  a  measureless  thirst 
for  glory,  without  setting  forth  the  stern  lesson  that 
shows  the  meaning  of  true  glory.  It  was  ordained 
that  one  by  nature  vainglorious  and  crafty,  aspiring  to 
the  vast  and  boundless,  unbalanced  by  sound  judgment, 
should  come  to  ghastly  wreck.  Even  his  better  quali- 
ties, such  as  his  aversion  to  war,  were  fatal  to  him, 
leaving  to  him  only  a  taste  for  a  kind  of  display  that 
did  not  belong  to  him.  Unless  one  were  a  Marcus 
Aurelius,  one  should  not  be  too  superior  to  the  preju- 
dices of  his  rank  and  condition.  A  prince  has  to 
do  with  arms  and  battles ;  his  caste  is  that  of  the 
soldier.  A  great  prince  may  and  should  be  a  patron 
of  letters,  but  should  not  be  himself  a  man  of  letters. 
Augustus  and  Louis  XIV.,  leaders  in  a  brilliant  devel- 
opment of  genius,  are  —  next  to  cities  of  genius,  like 
Athens  and  Florence  —  the  finest  spectacle  in  history ; 
while  Nero,  Chilperic,  and  Louis  of  Bavaria  are  only 

1  Dion  Cass,  lxiii.26. 


THE  DEATH  OF  NERO.  255 

caricatures.  In  the  case  of  Nero,  the  vastness  of  the 
imperial  power  and  the  brutality  of  Roman  manners 
make  the  caricature  look  as  if  sketched  in  streaks  of 
blood. 

It  is  often  said,  to  show  the  incurable  corruption  of 
the  crowd,  that  Nero  was  in  some  respects  popular. 
The  truth  is,  there  were  two  opposite  drifts  of  opiniou 
about  him.^  All  that  was  grave  and  honourable  de- 
tested him.  The  lower  class  were  fond  of  him,  —  some 
simply,  from  the  vague  feeling  that  leads  the  poor 
plebeian  to  love  a  prince  who  has  a  showy  outside  ;^ 
others,  because  he  intoxicated  them  with  gala  days.  At 
such  times  he  was  to  be  seen  mingling  with  the  crowd, 
dining,  or  taking  his  repast  at  the  theatre,  in  the 
heart  of  the  mob.^  And  then,  how  he  hated  the  Sen- 
ate, the  Roman  nobility,  whose  temper  was  so  harsh, 
so  averse  to  the  people !  The  high-livers  who  thronged 
about  him  were  at  least  good-humoured  and  civil.  The 
soldiers  of  the  guard,  too,  always  kept  a  liking  for  him. 
For  a  long  time  his  tomb  was  to  be  found  decked  with 
fresh  flowers,  and  images  of  him  were  laid  on  the 
Rostrum  by  secret  hands.*  The  good  fortune  of  Otho  be- 
gan through  having  been  Nero's  confidant  and  a  follower 
of  his  ways.  Vitellius,  also,  to  find  favour  in  Rome, 
affected  openly  to  take  Nero  for  his  model,  and  to  fol- 
low his  rules  of  government.  Thirty  or  forty  years 
after,  everybody  wished  he  were  still  alive,  and  longed 
for  his  return.^ 

This  popularity  —  at  which  we  should  not  be  too  much 

1  Jos.  Ant.  XX.  8:3.  2  Suet.  Nero,  56. 

8  Ibid.  20,  22 ;  Tac.  Hist.  i.  4,  5,  16,  78;  ii.  95  ;  Dion  Cass,  Ixiii.  10. 
*  Suet.  Nero,  57. 

5  Dion  Chrys.  Or.  21:  10:  '*  All  wish  he  were  alive,  and  very  many 
think  he  is." 


256  ANTICHRIST, 

surprised  —  had  one  singular  result.  A  report  spread 
abroad  that  the  object  of  so  much  regret  was  not  really 
dead.  While  he  was  yet  alive,  a  notion  had  got  started 
in  his  immediate  circle  that  he  would  be  dethroned  at 
Rome,  but  then  a  new  reign  would  begin  for  him  in 
the  East,  almost  a  messianic  reign.-^  There  is  always 
some  difficulty  in  a  people's  believing  that  men  who 
have  long  held  the  world's  eye  are  actually  gone.  The 
death  of  Nero  at  Phaon's  villa,  in  the  presence  of 
few  witnesses,  —  only  four,  says  Suetonius,  —  had  not 
been  exactly  an  event  of  public  note.  All  that  con- 
cerned his  burial  had  passed  among  three  women  de- 
voted to  him.  Hardly  any  one,  except  Icelus,  had 
seen  the  dead  body.^  Nothing  remained  of  him  that 
could  be  recognized.  It  was  easy  to  believe  there  was 
a  substitute.  Some  said  that  the  body  had  never  been 
found ;  others,  that  the  wound  in  his  throat  had  been 
bandaged  and  healed.^  Almost  all  held  that,  at  the 
suggestion  of  the  Parthian  ambassador  at  Rome,  he 
had  taken  refuge  with  the  king  of  Parthia  his  all}^ 
forever  hostile  to  the  Romans ;  or  else  with  Tiridates, 
that  king  of  Armenia  whose  journey  to  Rome  in  66 
had  been  attended  by  splendid  festivals  which  struck 
the  popular  imagination.*     There  he  was  plotting  the 

^  Suet.  Nero^  40  ;  Tac.  Ann.  xv.  36.  The  false  Nero  dreams  only  of 
Syria  and  Egypt  (Tac.  Hist.  ii.  9). 

2  Plutarch,  Galha,  7;  Suet.  Nero,  49. 

8  Tac.  Hist.  ii.  8  ;  Sulp.  Sev.  ii.  29 ;  Lact.  De  mort.  persec.  2. 

^  Nero  had  certainly  indulged  the  thought  of  flying  to  the  Parthian 
king,  Vologeses,  and  in  fact  that  people  were  always  friendly  to  him 
(Suet.  13,  30,  47,  57;  Aur.  Victor,  Nero,  14;  Epit.  Nero,  8;  Carm. 
Sihyll.  V.  147).  Tiridates  had  just  visited  the  cities  of  Asia  (Dion  Cass. 
Ixiii.  7:  a  text  wrongly  disputed).  In  any  case,  opinion  was  so  defi- 
nite, that  all  the  false  Neros  appeared  among  the  Parthians  or  were  their 
agents  (Zonaras,  xi.  18 ;  Tac.  Hist.  1.  2 ;  Suet.  Nero,  57). 


THE  DEATH  OF  NERO.  257 

ruin  of  the  empire.  He  would  soon  return  at  the  head 
of  horsemen  from  the  East,  to  torment  those  who  had 
betrayed  him/  His  partisans  lived  in  this  hope.  They 
were  already  restoring  his  images,  and  putting  out 
edicts  with  his  sign-manual.^  The  Christians,  on  the 
other  hand,  who  looked  on  him  as  a  monster,  were 
struck  with  terror  at  hearing  these  rumours,  which 
they  believed  in,  being  of  the  humbler  class.  These 
fancies  continued  for  a  long  time,  and,  as  it  commonly 
happens  in  such  cases,  there  were  several  pretenders  to 
the  name  of  Nero,  —  at  least  two  :  one  who  was  killed 
at  Cythnos,  and  whom  we  shall  hear  of  again  ;  and 
one  who  appeared  under  Domitian,  about  88.^  We 
shall  soon  see  the  reaction  of  this  opinion  in  the  Church, 
and  its  effect  upon  the  prophetic  writings  of  the  time. 

Few  people  were  left  in  their  right  senses  after  the 
strange  spectacle  they  had  witnessed.  Human  nature 
had  touched  the  limits  of  possibility.  A  void  was  left 
in  the  mind,  as  after  a  stroke  of  fever ;  on  all  sides 


1  Carm,  Sibyll  iv.  119,  137;  v.  33,  34,  93,  100,  137, 142,  146,  215-223, 
362,  385;  viii.  70,  146,  152;  xii.  93,  94;  Asc.  of  Isaiah,  iv.  2 ;  Commodian, 
Carm.  v.  820,  862,  925.  Comp.  Suet.  57;  Lact.  De  mort.  persec.  2;  Zo- 
naras,  xi.  18. 

2  Tac.  Hist.  ii.  8. 

«  See  Tac.  Hi<{t.  i.  2 ;  Suet.  Nero,  57.  Zonaras  (xi.  18)  speaks  of  an- 
other under  Titus,  but  this  seems  a  confusion  of  date:  he  may  refer  to  the 
pretender  of  Domitian's  time.  Tacitus  (Hist.  ii.  8:  ^^  ceterorum'')  implies 
more  than  one  after  him  of  Cythnos;  but  the  Parthian  policy  would 
hardly  be  guilty  of  the  same  fault  twice,  or  of  being  duped  by  the  same 
farce  played  by  two  impostors  a  few  years  apart.  Dion  Chrysostom,  in 
the  time  of  Trajan,  asserts  that  many  believed  Nero  to  be  still  alive 
(Or.  21 :  10).  The  writer  of  the  fourth  Sibylline  book  (about  80)  thinks 
that  Nero  is  among  the  Parthians  (ver.  119-124,  137-139)  and  will  soon 
return  ;  ver.  137  (totc)  might  incline  us  to  put  the  pretended  Nero  under 
Titus  (cf.  130-136),  but  the  writer  seems  to  speak  of  a  future  event.  If 
written  later,  it  would  show  the  vanity  of  the  prediction. 

17 


258  ANTICHRIST. 

were  spectres  and  visions  of  blood.  It  was  told  that  as 
Nero  passed  the  Colline  gate  to  take  refuge  in  Phaon's 
villa,  lightning  flashed  before  his  eyes,  the  earth  shook 
as  if  gaping  open,  and  the  souls  of  all  he  had  slain 
thronged  upon  him.^  There  was,  as  it  were,  a  thirst  for 
vengeance  in  the  air.  We  shall  soon  witness  an  inter- 
lude of  the  great  celestial  drama,  in  which  the  souls  of 
the  slaughtered  victims,  confined  beneath  the  altar,  cry 
with  a  loud  voice,  "  How  long,  0  Lord,  dost  thou  not 
judge  and  avenge  our  blood  on  them  that  dwell  upon 
the  earth  ?  "  ^  And  white  robes  are  given  them,  that 
they  may  wait  yet  a  little  while. 

1  Suet.  Nero,  48;  Dion  Cass.  Ixiii.  28. 

2  Rev.  vi.  10. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

DISASTERS   AND   SIGNS. — A.  D.   68. 

Both  Jews  and  Christians  had  at  first  greatly  rejoiced 
when  they  heard  of  the  revolt  of  Vindex.  They  sup- 
posed the  empire  would  perish  along  with  CaBsar's 
house ;  and  that  the  insurgent  generals,  hating  Rome, 
would  think  only  of  making  themselves  independent, 
each  in  his  own  province.^  The  insurrection  of  the 
Gauls  was  hailed  in  Judaea  as  meaning  the  same  thing 
with  that  of  the  Jews  themselves.^  This  was  a  com- 
plete mistake.  No  part  of  the  empire,  except  Judaea, 
wished  to  see  the  breaking  up  of  that  vast  confedera- 
tion which  gave  peace  and  material  prosperity  to  the 
world.  All  those  countries  about  the  Mediterranean, 
once  enemies,  were  enchanted  to  dwell  together  in 
amity.  Gaul  itself,  though  less  quiet  than  the  rest, 
limited  its  revolutionary  aspirations  to  the  overthrow 
of  evil  emperors,  the  demand  for  reform,  and  the  desire 
for  a  liberal  empire.  But  we  may  readily  conceive 
that  those  accustomed  to  the  ephemeral  royalties  of 
the  East  might  think  it  all  over  with  an  empire  whose 
reigning  house  was  just  extinct,  and  believe  that  the 
several  nations,  subjugated  within  a  century  or  two, 
would  form  separate  States  under  the  generals  in  com- 
mand.    For  eighteen  months,  in  fact,  no  one  chief  of 

1  Eev.  xvii.  16.  2  jog,  ^^irs,  pr.  2;  vi.  6:  2. 


26o  ANTICHRIST, 

the  legions  in  revolt  succeeded  in  keeping  down  his 
rivals  permanently.  There  had  never  been  such  con- 
vulsions throughout  the  world,  —  Rome  hardly  roused 
from  the  nightmare  of  Nero's  reign;  in  Jerusalem  a 
whole  people  smitten  with  frenzy ;  the  Christians  still 
stunned  by  the  frightful  massacre  of  four  years  back ; 
the  very  earth  racked  by  the  most  furious  tempests. 
All  the  world,  in  short,  was  dazed,  as  if  the  planet  itself 
were  shattered  and  about  to  perish.  The  shocking 
depth  of  corruption  in  which  pagan  society  was  sunk, 
the  extravagances  of  Nero,  his  Golden  House,  his  idiotic 
art,  his  colossal  images,  his  portraits  more  than  a  hun- 
dred feet  in  height,^  had  literally  made  the  world  crazy. 
Then  on  all  sides  natural  disasters  broke  forth,^  and 
kept  men's  minds  in  a  state  of  terror. 

When  we  read  the  Apocalypse  without  knowing  its 
date  or  holding  its  key,  such  a  book  seems  to  us  a 
product  of  the  most  individual  fancy  or  caprice.  But 
when  we  set  the  vision  in  its  place,  in  the  interval 
between  Nero  and  Vespasian,  when  the  empire  under- 
went the  gravest  crisis  it  had  ever  known,  it  is  found 
to  be  a  work  marvellously  adapted  to  the  condition  of 
the  general  mind  just  then.^  We  may  say,  too,  the 
condition  of  the  globe  itself;  for,  as  we  shall  soon 
see,  the  physical  phenomena  of '  the  time  made  an 
element  in  the  universal  horror.  Everybody  was  wild 
about  miracles ;  never  was  the  mind  so  taken  up  with 
prodigies  and  signs.  The  Divine  Father  seemed  to 
have  veiled  his  face.  Loathsome  spectres,  monsters 
born  of  the  slime,  mysterious,  seemed  to  float  in  the 

1  Pliny,  xxxiv.  7:8;  xxxv.  7:  33;  Dion  Cass.  Ivi.  15. 

2  Juv.  vi.  409-411. 

«  See,  especially,  Tac.  Hist.  i.  3,  18 ;  Ann.  xv.  47. 


DISASTERS  AND  SIGXS.  261 

air.  Every  one  thought  himself  at  the  eve  of  some 
unheard-of  thing.  Belief  in  signs  and  omens  was 
universal ;  barely  some  few  hundreds,  better  informed, 
saw  the  vanity  of  them.^  Impostors,  heirs  more  or  less 
legitimate  of  old  Babylonian  chimeras,  traded  on  the 
popular  ignorance,  and  pretended  to  interpret  the 
prodigies.^  These  wretches  made  themselves  famous ; 
they  were  always  being  driven  away  and  then  called 
back.  Otho  and  Vitellius,  especially,  were  wholly  given 
to  them.  The  highest  statesmanship  did  not  scorn  to 
reckon  with  these  childish  dreams.^ 

One  of  the  most  important  branches  of  Babylonish 
divination  was  the  interpreting  of  monstrous  births, 
considered  as  signs  of  coming  events.*  This  idea,  more 
than  any  other,  had  taken  hold  upon  the  Roman  mind. 
Progeny  with  several  heads,  in  particular,  were  held 
to  be  evident  forewarnings,  each  head,  by  the  symbol- 
ism found  in  the  Apocalypse,  representing  an  emperor.^ 
So  with  real  or  pretended  hybrids.  In  this  regard, 
again,  the  misshapen  visions  and  uncouth  images  of 
the  Apocalypse   reflect   the    popular   tales   that   filled 

1  Pliny  the  Elder,  the  scientist  of  his  day,  is  extremely  credulous.  The 
gravest  historians,  Suetonius,  Dion  Cassius  (Ixi.  16;  Ixv.  1,  etc.),  take 
omens  to  be  of  value.  Tacitus  {Hist.  i.  18,  86)  seems  to  see  their  vanity. 
Galba  disdained  them  (see,  however,  Plutarch's  G'aZia,  23),  and  Vespasian 
also  at  times  laughed  at  them  (Suet.  Vesp.  23). 

2  Philostratus,  Life  of  Apollonius,  esp.  v.  13. 

8  See  Val.  Max.  i.  3;  Suet,  passim;  Tac.  Hist.  i.  3,  10,  18,  22,  38,  86; 
ii.  22,  62,  78;  Dion  Cass.  Ix.  35  ;  Ixi.  2,  16,  18 ;  Ixii.  1;  Ixiii.  16,  26,  29; 
Ixiv.  1,  7, 10;  Ixv.  1,  8,  9,  11,  13  ;  Ixvi.  1,  9;  Zonaras,  vi.  5;  xii.  16  ;  Pliny, 
ii.  70,  72,  73  :  85, 103  :  106;  Niceph.i.  17;  PI ut.  G^a/6a,  23 ;  O^^o,  4;  Euseb. 
Chron.  ann.  1973  Abr.  7,  9  Ner. ;  Philostr.  Apoll.  iv.  43;  Jos.  Wars,  vi. 
5:  3,  4;  Virg.  Georg.  i.  463;  Carm.  Sibyll.  iii.  334,  337,  411;  iv.  128,  172; 
Liv.  XXX.  2. 

*  Journ.  Asiat.,  Oct.-Dec.  1871,  p.  449. 

s  Philostr.  Apoll.  v.  13;   Tac.  Ann.  xv.  47;  Hist.  i.  86. 


262  ANTICHRIST, 

men's  minds.  A  hog  with  claws  like  a  hawk  w^as  held 
to  be  a  perfect  image  of  Nero.^  Nero  himself  had  a 
curious  eye  for  these  monstrosities.'^ 

Much  thought  was  also  given  to  meteors  and  signs  in 
the  sky.  Meteoric  stones  made  a  prodigious  impression. 
We  know  now  that  the  fall  of  these  bodies  is  periodi- 
cal, at  intervals  of  some  thirty  years.  At  such  times 
there  are  nights  when  it  seems  literally  to  rain  stars. 
Comets,  eclipses,  mock-suns,  northern  lights  in  which 
appear  crowns,  swords,  and  streaks  of  blood,  fantastic 
forms  of  clouds  in  time  of  heat,  with  traces  of  battles 
or  strange  beasts,  —  drew  eager  attention,  and  seemed 
never  to  have  been  so  vivid  as  in  these  tragic  j^ears. 
All  the  talk  was  of  showers  of  blood,  of  wonderful 
thunderbolts,  of  rivers  flowing  up-stream,  or  of  bloody 
torrents.  A  thousand  things  never  noticed  in  ordinary 
times  came  to  have  a  high  importance  in  the  feverish 
excitement  of  the  public  mind.^  The  odious  charlatan 
Balbillus  availed  himself  of  the  effect  of  these  things 
on  the  emperor,  to  stir  up  his  suspicions  against  the 
most  illustrious,  and  get  from  him  the  most  cruel 
orders.* 

The  disasters  of  the  time,  furthermore,  were  some 
justification  for  these  insane  fears.  Blood  was  flowing 
in  torrents  on  all  sides.  The  death  of  Nero  was  in 
some  ways  a  relief,  but  it  opened  a  period  of  civil  war. 
The  conflict  of  the  Gallic  legions  under  Vindex  and 
Virginius  had  been  frightful.  Galilee  was  a  scene  of 
unexampled  desolation,  and  among  the  Parthians  there 

1  Tac.  Ann.  xii.  64.  ^  Phlegon,  De  rebus  mirab.,  20;  Pliny,  loc.  cit. 

3  Tac.  Ann.  xv.  47;  Hist.  i.  18,  86  ;  Dion  Cass.  Ixiii.  26;  Euseb.  Chron. 
ann.  33 ;  Carm.  Sihyll  iv.  172 ;  v.  154. 

*  Suet.  Nero,  36,  56;  Tac.  Ann.  xv.  47;  Pliny,  Hist,  nat.  ii.  25:  23  ; 
Dion  Cass.  Ixi.  18. 


DISASTERS  AND  SIGNS,  263 

was  the  murderous  war  of  Corbulo.  It  was  felt  that 
something  worse  was  coming :  the  fields  of  Bedriacum 
and  Cremona  were  soon  to  smoke  with  human  gore. 
Public  executions  made  of  the  amphitheatres  so  many- 
hells.  The  cruelty  of  military  and  civil  manners  had 
banished  all  pity  from  the  world.  The  Christians 
shrank  trembling  to  the  depth  of  their  retreats,  and 
already,  we  may  suppose,  repeated  to  themselves  words 
ascribed  to  Jesus  ^ :  "  When  you  hear  of  wars  and  ru- 
mours of  wars,  be  not  troubled ;  all  this  must  be,  but 
the  end  is  not  yet.  Nation  will  rise  against  nation, 
and  kingdom  against  kingdom.  There  will  be  great 
earthquakes,  terrors,  famines,  and  pestilences  on  all 
sides,  and  great  signs  in  the  sky.  These  things  are 
the  beginning  of  sorrows."  ^ 

Famine  was  now  added  to  massacre.  In  68  supplies 
of  grain  from  Alexandria  fell  short. ^  Early  in  69  there 
was  a  disastrous  inundation  of  the  Tiber,  with  extreme 
misery.*  A  sudden  inroad  of  the  sea  threw  Lycia  into 
mourning.^  In  65  Rome  was  visited  by  a  horrible  pes- 
tilence ;  thirty  thousand  deaths  were  reported  in  the 
autumn.^  The  same  year  was  a  terrible  conflagration 
at  Lyons ;  "^  and  Campania  was  swept  by  cyclones  and 
tornadoes,  whose  ravages  went  as  far  as  to  the  gates  of 
Rome.  The  order  of  Nature  seemed  reversed ;  fright- 
ful tempests  spread  terror  on  every  side.^ 

1  Matt.  xxiv.  6-8;  Mark  xiii.  7-9;  Luke  xxi.  9-11. 

*  On  such  calamities,  particularly  famine,  considered  as  signs  of  the 
Messiah's  coming,  see  Mishna,  Sola,  ix.  15;  Bab.  Talra.  SanJi.  97  a; 
Pesikta  derahhi  Kahna,  516;  P.  rabbathi,  i.  xv.;  the  midrash  Othothfjuh. 
58-63.  ^^,  j:1  ' 

«  Suet.  45;  Tac.  xv.  43;  Cam.  Sibyll.  iii.  475. 

*  Tac.  Hist.  i.  86;  Suet.  Otho,  8;  Plut.  id.  4. 

6  Dion  Cass.  Ixiii.  26.         «  Xac.  Ann.  xvi.  13;  Suet.  39. 

^  Sen.  Epist.  91.  8  Xac.  Ann.  xv.  47  ;  Sen.  Qucest.  nat.  vi.,28. 


264  ANTICHRIST. 

But  the  most  awful  of  all  were  earthquakes.  The 
globe  seemed  to  be  undergoing  a  like  convulsion  to 
that  of  the  moral  world,  as  if  the  earth  and  man  were 
stricken  at  once  with  fever.^  In  a  popular  commotion, 
anything  that  acts  on  the  imagination  of  the  crowd 
will  be  connected  with  the  incidents  of  the  moment: 
a  natural  phenomenon,  a  great  crime,  a  multitude  of 
things,  accidental  and  disconnected,  are  bound  and 
fused  together  in  the  great  epic  that  makes  man's 
story  from  generation  to  generation.  Thus  Christian 
history  has  embodied  in  itself  all  that  at  various  times 
has  moved  the  popular  heart.  Nero  and  a  volcanic  jet 
of  sulphur-fumes  [Solfatara)  are  quite  as  important  here 
as  a  theological  essay;  we  must  make  room  for  geo- 
logical phenomena  and  the  convulsions  of  the  planet. 
And  then,  beyond  all  other  natural  events,  earthquakes 
force  man  to  bow  himself  before  the  Unknown.  Where 
they  are  frequent,  as  near  Naples,  or  in  tropical  Amer- 
ica, there  superstition  is  epidemic.  And  so  we  may  say 
of  those  periods  in  which  they  rage  most  violently. 
Never  were  they  more  frequent  than  in  the  first  cen- 
tury of  our  era.  No  time  can  be  recalled  when  the  crust 
of  the  old  world  had  been  so  rudely  shaken.^ 

Vesuvius  was  now  preparing  for  the  awful  eruption 
of  79.  In  63,  on  the  fifth  of  February,  Pompeii  was  al- 
most buried  by  an  earthquake ;  many  of  the  inhabitants 
refused  to  return  thither.^  The  volcanic  centre  of  the 
Bay  of  Naples  at  this  time  was  near  Puteoli  and  Cumse, 

1  Sen.  Qucest.  nat.  vi.  1. 

2  Juv.  vi.  411;  Carm.  Sihyll.  iii.  341,  401,  449,  457,  459;  iv.  128,  129. 
I  have  been  favoured  by  the  director  of  the  observatory  at  Athens,  who 
has  compiled  the  statistics  of  earthquakes,  with  that  portion  of  his  record 
which  relates  to  the  period  in  view. 

8  Tac.  Ann.  xv.  22;  Sen.  Qucest.  nat.  vi.  1. 


DISASTERS  AND  SIGNS.  265 

Vesuvius  was  still  silent ;  ^  but  the  series  of  small 
craters  making  the  region  west  of  Naples,  called  the 
Phlegraean  Fields,  showed  everywhere  the  trace  of  fire.^ 
.  The  Avernus,  the  marsh  of  Acheron  (Lake  Fusaro), 
Lake  Agrano,  Solfatara,  with  the  little  extinct  volcanoes 
of  Astroni,  Camaldoli,  Ischia,  and  Nisida,  seem  at  this 
day  something  petty ;  the  traveller  receives  an  impres- 
sion from  them  more  pleasant  than  dreadful.  But  this 
was  not  the  feeling  of  antiquity.  These  hot-pits,  deep 
caverns,  boiling  springs,  sulphurous  vapours,  hollow 
sounds,  gaping  cavities,^  vomiting  brimstone  fumes  and 
fiery  vapour,  were  an  inspiration  to  Virgil ;  they  were 
also  an  essential  feature  in  apocalyptic  literature.  The 
Jew  who  landed  at  Puteoli,  for  trade  or  intrigue  in 
Rome,*  saw  this  land  steaming  at  every  pore,  inces- 
santly shaken,  and  said  to  be  the  abode  of  giants  and 
of  torments.^  The  Solfatara,  above  all,  seemed  to  him 
a  pit  of  the  abyss,  a  half-closed  tunnel  into  hell.  The 
continual  escape  of  sulphurous  vapour  from  its  mouth 
—  was  it  not  a  visible  proof  of  a  lake  of  fire  under- 
ground, evidently  destined  (like  the  lake  of  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah)  for  the  punishment  of  the  wicked .?  ^     The 

^  There  had  been  eruptions  in  prehistoric  times,  but  Vesuvius  had  long 
been  quiet  when  it  burst  forth  in  79  (Diod.  Sic.  iv.  21;  Strabo,  v.  4:  8; 
Dion  Cass.  Ixvi.  21,  22;  Vitruv.  ii.  6:  2;  Pliny,  Epist.  vi.  16).  It  was 
cultivated  to  the  top,  and  only  the  plain  showed  a  volcanic  aspect 
(J^hlegrceari). 

2  Strabo,  v.  4:  4-9.  8  Bocche  dHnferno^  "hell-mouths." 

*  See  "  Saint  Paul,"  chap.  iv. ;  chap.  i.  above. 

6  Strabo,  v.  4:  4,  5,  6,  9;  vi.  3:  5;  Diod.  Sic.  iv.  21.  These  titan- 
myths  of  the  Greeks  had  been  adopted  by  the  Jews  (see  "Enoch," 
X.  12). 

«  Rev.  xiv.  10;  xix.  20;  xx.  9;  xxi.  8.  This  region  was  formerly 
much  more  volcanic  in  aspect  than  now;  its  plain  was  covered  with 
brimstone-powder,  and  there  appears  to  have  been  no  vegetation  (Strabo, 
V.  4:  G). 


266  ANTICHRIST, 

moral  aspect  of  the  region  would  no  less  astonish  him. 
Baiae  was  a  bathing  and  watering  place,  a  centre  of 
luxurious  pleasure,  a  place  of  fashionable  country- 
houses,  a  favourite  abode  of  frivolous  society.^  Cicero 
reproaches  himself,  in  addressing  sober  people,  for  hav- 
ing his  villa  in  the  midst  of  this  "  kingdom  "  of  bril- 
liant and  dissolute  manners.^  Propertius  bids  his 
beloved  haste  away  from  such  a  place ;  Petronius 
makes  it  the  scene  of  Trimalcion's  debaucheries ;  Sen- 
eca calls  it  a  "  hotel  of  vices."  ^  BaiaB,  Bauli,  Cumae, 
Misenum,  were  witnesses  to  every  folly  and  crime. 
The  pool  of  azure  waves  embraced  in  the  shores  of  this 
delightful  bay  was  the  scene  of  those  bloody  sea-fights 
of  Caligula  and  Claudius,  where  thousands  of  victims 
perished.  What  thoughts  must  fill  the  soul  of  a  pious 
Jew,  or  a  Christian  fervently  praying  for  the  universal 
conflagration  of  the  world,  at  sight  of  that  nameless 
spectacle,  those  mad  constructions  amid  the  waves, 
those  baths,  which  these  puritan  folk  viewed  with 
horror  —  like  the  abhorrence  felt  by  monks  of  the  thir- 
teenth century  for  Frederick  II.,  the  restorer  of  these 
baths.  The  thought  could  be  only  this:  "Fools  and 
blind !  "  they  would  say ;  "  their  future  abode  is  be- 
neath this  very  spot;  they  dance  over  the  hell  that 
will  soon  swallow  them  up !  " 

Such  an  impression  —  which  applies  alike  to  Puteoli 
and  to  other  similar  places  —  is  nowhere  more  striking 
than  in  the  book  of  Enoch.*     According  to  one  of  the 

1  Cic.  Pro  Cod.  20.  2  cic.  Ad  Att.  i.  16;  xiv.  16. 

8  Sen.  Epist.  51;  cf.  Mart.  i.  63. 

*  Chap.  Ixvii.  4-13  (Dillmann).  This  passage  has  been  supposed  to  have 
been  written  after  the  eruption  of  79.  But,  apart  from  the  doubt  whether 
it  refers  to  volcanoes  in  the  West,  we  find  very  similar  images  in  Diod. 
Sic.  iv.  21,  and  Strabo,  v.  4 :  8,  which  were  certainly  written  before  79. 


DISASTERS  AND  SIGNS.  267 

writers  of  this  strange  apocalypse,  the  abode  of  fallen 
angels  is  a  subterranean  valley  in  the  region  of  the 
West,  near  ''  the  mountain  of  metals."  This  mountain 
is  filled  with  floods  of  fire;  a  smoke  as  of  brimstone 
pours  forth ;  there  flow  from  it  boiling  sulphur-springs 
(thermal  waters),  which  serve  for  the  healing  of  dis- 
eases, and  near  them  the  kings  and  great  ones  of  the 
earth  give  themselves  up  to  all  manner  of  delights.^ 
Fools  and  blind  !  every  day  they  look  upon  the  tor- 
ment in  store  for  them,  and  yet  they  do  not  pray  to 
God  !  This  valley  of  fire  may  be  that  of  Gehenna, 
eastward  from  Jerusalem,  connected  by  the  "  vale  of 
fire  "  {tvadi  en-ndr)  with  the  sunken  region  of  the  Dead 
Sea ;  and  in  that  case  the  hot  springs  are  those  of 
Callirrhoe,  a  pleasure  resort  of  Herod,  and  the  quite 
infernal  country  of  Machoerus,  which  is  close  by.^  But, 
thanks  to  the  elastic  topography  of  seers,  the  baths  may 
also  be  those  of  Baiae  and  Cumae ;  in  the  fiery  valley 
we  may  recognise  the  Solfatara  of  Puteoli  or  the  Phle- 
grasan  Fields;^  in  the  "mountain  of  metals"  we  may 

Diodorus,  in  particular,  connects  the  Phlegraean  Fields  directly  with 
Vesuvius,  though  they  are  more  than  twenty  miles  away.  The  allusion  in 
"  Enoch"  may  refer  simply  to  volcanic  phenomena  near  Cumse  and  Baiae. 
The  phrase,  "mountain  of  molten  metal,"  thought  to  be  descriptive  of 
Vesuvius  in  action,  applies  well  enough  to  Solfatara  or  Puteoli,  or  to 
Vesuvius  before  79  (see  Strabo,  1.  c).  The  aspect  of  Vesuvius  was  cer- 
tainly that  of  an  extinct  furnace  (see  Beule,  Le  drame  du  Vesuve,  64). 
Besides,  the  Ethiopic  text  does  not  convey  the  idea  of  "  molten  "  so 
clearly  as  has  been  supposed.  At  all  events,  the  text  does  not  say  that 
streams  of  liquid  fire  "  will  one  day  pour  forth  "  from  the  valley. 

1  Comp.  Strabo,  v.  4 :  5 :  "  The  hot  springs  of  Baiae  serve  both  for  lux- 
ury and  for  healing." 

2  Jos.  Antiq.  xvii.  6:  5;  Wars,  i.  33:  5;  ii.  21 :  6 ;  vii.  6:  3. 

8  As  the  Solfatara  is  only  something  more  than  300  feet  above  the  sea 
level,  its  crater  may  well  be  called  a  "valley,"  which  expression  would 
hardly  apply  to  the  crater  of  the  Somma. 


268  ANTICHRIST, 

see  Vesuvius  before  the  eruption  of  79.^  We  shall  soon 
see  how  these  strange  regions  inspired  the  writer  of 
the  Apocalypse,  and  how  the  "bottomless  pit"  was 
revealed  to  him  ten  years  before,  by  an  extraordinary 
coincidence,  nature  threw  open  the  crater  of  Vesuvius. 
As  to  the  people,  it  is  no  mere  guess.  It  could  not  be 
without  significance  that  the  most  tragic  region  in  the 
world,  the  theatre  of  the  impious  orgies  of  Caligula, 
Claudius,  and  Nero,  was  at  the  same  time  the  one  re- 
gion to  display  most  conspicuously  the  phenomena 
which  almost  every  one  then  thought  to  be  typical  of 
hell.2 

Still,  not  Italy  alone,  but  the  entire  eastern  Mediter- 
ranean country,  felt  these  earthquake-shocks.  For  two 
centuries  Asia  Minor  was  constantly  disturbed  by  them.^ 
Cities  had  to  be  rebuilt,  again  and  again.  Some  places, 
like  Philadelphia,  felt  shocks  almost  daily.*  Buildings 
in  Tralles  were  constantly  crumbling  down  ;  ^  and  a 
way  had  to  be  contrived  for  banking  the  houses  against 
one  another.^     In  the  year  17  fourteen  towns  of  the 

^  The  title  would  not  be  justified  by  anything  in  the  region  about  the 
Dead  Sea.     See,  however,  Neubaner,  Gengr.  du  Talmude,  p.  37,  40. 

2  Naturally,  the  apocalypses  after  79  dwell  still  more  upon  these  im- 
ages. See  Carm.  Sihyll.  iv.  130;  and  comp.  "Esdras,"  iv.  6  et  seq. 
(Ethiopia  text). 

8  "  Nowhere  in  the  world  are  there  such  continual  earthquakes  or  so 
raany  overthrows  of  cities  as  in  Asia "  (Solinus,  Pobjh.  40).  Comp. 
Texier,  Asia  Minor,  pass.;  Strabo,  index,  "  terrae  motus ;  "  Philostr. 
A  poll.  iv.  6.  That  is  why  there  are  comparatively  so  few  monuments 
there  earlier  than  the  first  century  a.  d. 

4  Strabo,  xii.  4:10;  cf .  8  :  16,  17,  18. 

^  Traces  of  these  ruins  may  still  be  seen  on  the  slopes  of  Tmolus  and 
Messogis.  Those  mountains  are  most  extraordinarily  splintered,  cloven, 
and  cut  into  ravines,  especially  near  Tralles  (Aidin). 

^  For  the  first  century  b.  c,  see  Jos.  Ant.  xv.  5:2;  Wars,  i.  19:3; 
Justin,  xl.  2  ;  Eiiseb.  Chron.  Aug.  Ann.  19,  25,  39. 


DISASTERS  AND  SIGNS.  269 

mountain  region  of  Tmolus  and  Messogis  were  de- 
stroyed ;  this  was  the  most  dreadful  calamity  of  the 
sort  ever  known  till  then.^  In  the  years  23,^  33/  37,* 
46/  51/  53/  there  were  local  disasters  in  Greece,  Asia, 
and  Italy.  The  island  of  Thera^  suffered  a  period  of 
volcanic  action,  and  Antioch  was  frequently  shaken.^ 
Beginning  with  59,  almost  every  year  is  marked  by  some 
like  disaster.^^  The  valley  of  the  Lycus,  in  particular, 
with  the  Christian  towns  Laodicaea  and  Colossae,  was 
overwhelmed  in  60."  When  we  consider  that  right 
here  was  the  centre  of  the  millenarian  ideas,  the  heart 
of  the  seven  churches,  the  birthplace  of  the  Apocalypse, 
we  are  convinced  that  there  was  a  close  connection 
between  the  revelation  made  at  Patmos  and  the  dis- 
turbances of  the  soil.  Here,  in  short,  is  one  of  the  few 
examples  of  a  reciprocal  influence  between  the  geologi- 
cal history  of  the  globe  and  the  intellectual  history  of 
man.  The  Sibylline  poems  in  like  manner  show  the 
impression  made  by  the  convulsions  in  the  valley  of 
the  Lycus.^^     These  shocks  in  Asia  Minor  excited  terror 

1  Tac.  Ann.  ii.  47;  Plin.  ii.  84  (86)  ;  Dion  Cass.  Ivii.  17  ;  Euseb.  Chron. 
Tib.  4;  Sen.  Qucest.  nat.\\.  1;  Strabo,  xii.  8:  16-18;  xiii.  3:5;  4:8; 
Phlegon,  Mr.,  1-3,  14  ;  Solinu8,40;  Syncellus,  319;  Corp.  inscr.  Gr.  3450; 
Orelli,  6S7 ;  Mommsen  Inscr.  regni  Neap.  2486 ;  Niceph.  H.  E.  i.  17  ; 
Carm.  Sihyll.  iii.  341 ;  v.  286.     Comp.,  for  b.  c.  12,  Dion  Cass.  liv.  30. 

2  Tac.  Ann.  iv.  13.  «  Eus.  Ann.  33. 

*  Suet.  Tib.  74.  «  Dion  Cass.  Ix.  29  et  al 

*  Tac.  Ann.  xii.  43.  "^  Ibid.  58. 

*  Near  Crete,  now  Santorin,  "  celebrated  as  a  centre  of  great  volcanic 
activity." 

8  Malala,  x.  pans. 

10  Euseb.  Chron.  62,  65;  Suet.  Nero,  20;  Philostr.  Apoll.  iv.  34;  vi.  38, 
41  ;  Sen.  Q.  N.  vi.  1  ;  Pliny,  H.  N.  ii.  83  (85). 

"  See  *'  Saint  Paul,"  chap.  xiii. ;  p.  98  (ante)  ;  Euseb.  and  Orosius  mis- 
take the  date  :  Tac.  xiv.  27  settles  the  question. 

12  Carm.  Sibyll.  iii.  471  ;  v.  286-291. 


270  ANTICHRIST, 

all  about ;  they  were  talked  of  throughout  the  world ;  ^ 
and  there  were  few,  indeed,  who  did  not  look  on  them 
as  signs  of  divine  wrath .^ 

All  this  caused  a  sort  of  gloom  in  the  air,  strongly 
stimulating  to  the  Christian  imagination.  In  view  of 
such  dislocation  of  both  the  physical  and  the  moral 
world,  how  should  not  the  faithful  cry  out  with  deeper 
conviction  than  ever,  Maran-atha  ("  The  Lord  cometh  ")  ? 
The  earth  seemed  to  them  to  be  crumbling  away.  In 
fancy  they  already  saw  kings,  men  of  power,  and  men 
of  wealth  in  flight,  saying  to  the  mountains,  ^^  Fall 
upon  us ! ''  and  to  the  hills,  "  Cover  us ! "  The  old 
prophets  constantly  appealed  to  natural  disasters  to  an- 
nounce the  near  coming  of  "  the  day  of  the  Lord."  A 
passage  of  Joel  (chap,  ii.),  which  was  applied  to  messi- 
anic times,^  announced  as  sure  prognostics  of  that 
"great  and  dreadful  day"  signs  in  heaven  and  on 
earth,  —  prophets  appearing  on  every  side,  rivers  of 
blood,  fire,  smoke,  rising  like  the  stem  of  a  palm-tree,^  a 
darkened  sun,  a  bloody  moon.  Jesus  was  thought, 
also,  to  have  predicted  "  earthquakes,  famines,  pesti- 
lences in  divers  places  "  as  the  "  beginning  of  birth- 
pangs,"  ^  then,  as  immediate  signs  of  his  coming, 
eclipses,  a  darkened  moon,  stars  falling  from  the  sky, 
the  air  troubled,  the  sea  roaring,  populations  fleeing  in 

^  Juv.  vi.  411.  2  Comp.  Dion  Cass.  Ixviii.  25. 

8  Acts  ii.  17-21. 

*  The  word  (timroth)  rendered  "pillars"  of  smoke  in  Joel  ii.  30, 
means  "palm-trees."  So  Tliny  (Epist.  vi.  16)  compares  the  column  of 
smoke  from  Vesuvius  to  a  pine-tree  [iwn  alia  magis  arhor  quam  pimts  ex- 
presserit], 

'^  apxh  o)biva>v:  Matt.  xxiv.  7,  8;  Mark  xiii.  8 ;  Luke  xxi.  1.  Like  all 
apocalyptic  imagery,  these  ideas  were  taken  from  the  old  prophets.  See 
Isa.  xxxiv.  4  ;  Ezek.  xxxii.  7,  8  ;  comp.  Cann.  Sibyll.  iv.  172  et  seq. 


DISASTERS  AND  SIGNS.  271 

terror,  not  knowing  on  which  side  is  death  or  safety.^ 
Thus  terror  is  a  feature  in  every  apocalypse,  associated 
with  the  idea  of  persecution.^  Evil,  when  just  coming 
to  an  end,  would  redouble  its  fury,  and  make  proof  of 
fresh  skill  in  its  means  for  the  destruction  of  saints. 

1  Matt.  xxiv.  29 ;  Mark  xiii.  24,  25 ;  Luke  xxi.  25,  26.  Comp.  inci- 
dents in  Luke  to  Seneca's  account  of  tlie  earthquake  at  Pompeii  in'  63 
(Q.  N.  vi.  1). 

2  Assumpt.  of  Moses,  8,  10;  Apocal.  of  Baruch  (Ceriani,  i.  60,  80; 
V.  130). 


CHAPTER   XV. 

THE  APOSTLES   IN  ASIA.  —  A.  D.  68,  69. 

The  province  most  affected  by  these  terrors  was  Asia 
Minor.  The  church  at  Colossae  had  received  its  death- 
blow in  the  catastrophe  of  A.  D.  60.^  Hierapolis  seems 
not  to  have  suffered,  though  built  among  the  most 
shapeless  remains  of  a  volcanic  outburst ;  and  it  is 
possible  that  the  faithful  of  Colossae  found  refuge  here. 
At  this  time  Hierapolis  appears,  from  all  indications, 
to  be  a  city  by  itself.  Judaism  was  here  openly  pro- 
fessed. Inscriptions  still  extant  among  the  marvel- 
lously preserved  ruins  of  this  singular  place  speak  of 
the  yearly  doles  to  be  made  to  corporations  of  work- 
men, at  the  time  of  "  unleavened  bread "  and  of  the 
Pentecost.^  Nowhere  were  acts  of  mercy,  charitable 
institutions,^  societies  for  mutual  help  among  people  of 
the  same  trade,*  so  important  as  here.  Homes  for 
orphans,  shelters  for  infants,  prove  a  developed  philan- 
thropy, such  as  was  rarely  to  be  found.^  Philadelphia 
had  points  of  similar  interest.  Here  political  divisions 
were  drawn  on  the  lines  of  difference  in  occupation.     In 

^  See  p.  98,  ante. 

2  See  Rev.  de  Vinstr.  publ.  en  Beige,  May,  1868,  p.  1. 
8  Ibid.  p.  7. 

4  See  "  Saint  Paul,"  chap,  xiii.;  Waddington,  Inscr.  1687. 
^  *Epya(TLa  Opefi^iaTiicfi  (Waddington);  Wagener,  7,  8;  Corp.  inscr.  gr, 
3318 ;  Notices,  etc.,  xxviii.  2,  p.  425. 


THE  APOSTLES  IN  ASIA.  273 

almost  all  these  rich  cities  of  Asia  Minor  society  was  a 
peaceful  democracy  of  labourers  having  nothing  to  do 
with  politics.  A  slave  might  be  honoured  for  his  good- 
ness, and  virtue  was  held  to  belong  especially  to  those 
who  suffer.  About  the  time  of  which  I  speak  there 
was  born  in  Hierapolis  a  child  so  poor  that  he  was  sold 
in  the  cradle,  and  was  known  by  no  other  name  than 
"  New-bought,"  ^  which,  thanks  to  him,  has  become  a 
very  synonym  of  virtue.  From  his  instructions  was  to 
come,  one  day,  that  admirable  book,  a  manual  for  those 
strong  souls  who  shrink  from  the  supernatural  ism  of 
the  gospel,  and  think  it  a  betrayal  of  duty  to  ascribe  to 
it  any  other  charm  than  that  of  its  own  austere  purity. 
To  Christian  eyes  Hierapolis  had  an  honour  greatly 
superior  to  that  of  having  witnessed  the  birth  of 
Epictetus ;  it  had  given  hospitality  to  one  of  the  few 
survivors  of  the  first  Christian  generation,  one  of  those 
who  had  seen  Jesus,  —  the  apostle  Philip.^  We  may 
suppose  that  he  came  hither  after  the  events  which 
made  Jerusalem  unendurable  for  quiet  people,  and 
drove  the  Christians  out  of  it.^  Asia  was  the  prov- 
ince where  Jews  were  most  at  their  ease,  and  they 
thronged  into  it.  Intercourse  between  Hierapolis  and 
Rome  was  eas}^  and  frequent ;  a  trader  is  mentioned 
who  made  the  journey  seventy-two  times.*  Philip  was 
a  priestly  person  of  the  old  school,  like  James.  He 
had  the  repute  of  working  miracles^  and  even  of  raising 

1  Epictetus  ('E7rt-»rn;ro's),  i.  c,  "  thrown  into  the  bargain."  — Ed. 

«  Theodoret,  In  Ps.  cxvi.  1 ;  Nieeph.  ii.  39.  On  Philip  "the  deacon  " 
and  Philip  "  the  apostle,"  see  *'  The  Apostles,"  chap.  ix. ;  "  Saint  Paul/' 
chap,  xviii.  (end). 

*  The  Greek  mennlogy  (Urbin,  1727,  pt.  1)  takes  him  thither  after  the 
death  of  John,  but  these  are  very  late  reckonings. 

*  Inscr.  Gr.  3920. 

18 


274  ANTICHRIST, 

from  the  dead.  He  had  had  four  daughters,  all  prophet- 
esses. One  of  them  seems  to  have  died  before  he  came 
to  Asia ;  two  others  grew  old  unmarried  ;  the  fourth 
married  in  her  father's  lifetime,  prophesied  like  her 
sisters,  and  died  at  Ephesus.^  These  singular  women 
became  very  distinguished  in  Asia.^  Papias,  who  was 
bishop  of  Hierapolis  about  130,  had  known  them,  but 
had  not  seen  Philip  himself.  He  heard  from  these 
aged  and  enthusiastically  devout  women  wonderful  ac- 
counts of  their  father's  miracles.  They  also  knew 
many  things  about  other  apostles  or  apostolic  persons, 
particularly  Joseph  Barsabas,  who,  they  said,  drank  a 
deadly  poison  without  injury.^ 

Thus  there  was  established  in  Asia,  near  John,  a 
second  centre  of  authority  and  apostolic  tradition. 
John  and  Philip  raised  the  country  where  they  had 
chosen  their  abode  almost  to  the  level  of  Judea.  These 
two  "  great  lights  of  Asia,"  ^  as  they  were  called,  were 
for  several  years  the  watchfires  of  the  Church  when 
deprived  of  its  other  leaders.  Philip  died  and  was 
buried  at  Hierapolis.  His  virgin  daughters  lived  to  a 
very  advanced  age,  and  were  laid  near  him,  the  mar- 
ried one   being   buried   at  Ephesus ;  all   their   graves 

^  Acts  (xxi.  9)  and  Proclus  reckon  four  prophetesses ;  the  latter  relates 
that  they  were  all  buried  at  Ephesus.  Polycrates,  better  informed,  knows 
only  three,  two  of  them  unmarried,  and  one  a  prophetess  who  was  buried 
at  Ephesus.  Clement  seems  to  speak  of  them  all  as  married.  The  Greek 
menology  brings  two  into  Asia,  and  buries  one  at  Ephesus. 

2  *<  The  Apostles,"  chap.  ix. ;  Papias  (Euseb.  iii.  39) ;  Polycrates  of 
Ephesus  {id.  iii.  31;  v.  24);  Clem.  Alex.  Strom,  iii.  6;  Proclus  (Caius: 
Euseb.  iii.  31);  Euseb.  iii.  30,  31,  37;  v.  17;  Jer.  iv.  2:  181,  673,  785; 
Niceph.  ii.  44;  Menol.  Gr.  Sep.  4.  When  IrenfBus  rests  the  traditional 
date  on  the  testimony  of  John  and  "  other  apostles,"  Philip  may  be  in- 
tended.   Note  also  the  prominence  given  to  Philip  in  the  Fourth  Gospel. 

8  Euseb.  iii.  39.  *  Euseb.  iii.  31. 


THE  APOSTLES  IN  ASIA,  275 

might  be  seen  in  the  second  century.  Thus  Hierapolis 
had  its  rival  apostolic  tombs,  as  well  as  Ephesus.  The 
province  seemed  ennobled  by  these  holy  bodies,  which 
men  thought  they  should  behold  rising  out  of  the  earth 
at  the  coming  of  the  Lord  in  glory  to  raise  his  chosen 
from  the  dead. 

The  crisis  in  Judaea,  which  in  68  scattered  the  apos- 
tles and  apostolic  men,  may  have  brought  back  to 
Ephesus  and  the  valley  of  the  Maeander  other  important 
persons  of  the  infant  Church.  In  any  case  a  large 
number  of  disciples,  who  had  seen  the  apostles  at 
Jerusalem,  found  themselves  again  in  Asia,  and  seem 
to  have  led  there  that  wandering  life  so  dear  to 
Jews.^  Perhaps  the  mysterious  persons  called  "John 
the  Elder  "  and  Aristion  were  of  this  number  —  though 
it  seems  to  me  more  probable  that  they  were  a  gen- 
eration later.  These  hearers  of  the  Twelve  carried 
through  Asia  Minor  the  tradition  of  the  church  at 
Jerusalem,  thus  giving  the  preponderance  here  to  Jew- 
ish Christianity.  They  were  eagerly  questioned  about 
the  sayings  of  the  apostles  and  the  actual  words  of 
Jesus.  At  a  later  time,  those  who  had  seen  them  were 
so  proud  of  having  drawn  from  this  pure  spring  that 
they  looked  disdainfully  upon  the  petty  writings  which 
professed  to  report  those  sayings. 

The  state  of  mind  in  which  these  churches  lived  — 
hidden  in  the  heart  of  a  province  whose  gentle  climate 
and  pure  sky  seem  to  invite  to  mysticism  —  had  a  very 
special  effect  on  their  beliefs.  Nowhere  else  did  the 
messianic  ideas  so  fill  men's  thoughts.      They  aban- 

1  Papias  in  Euseb.  iii.  39.  The  same  thing  follows  from  the  constant 
appeal  of  Irenaius  to  "ancients"  who  had  lived  with  the  apostles,  and 
whom  he  had  heard  of  from  his  master  Polycarp. 


276  ANTICHRIST, 

doned  themselves  to  extravagant  calculations.*  The 
strangest  parables  were  propagated,  derived  from  the 
tradition  of  Philip  and  John.  The  gospel  developed 
in  this  region  had  in  it  something  mythical  and  singu- 
lar.^ It  was  commonly  held  that  after  the  resurrection 
of  the  body  (which  was  very  near)  there  would  be  a 
^'  bodily "  reign  of  Christ  upon  earth  for  a  thousand 
years.^  The  delights  of  this  earthly  paradise  were  de- 
scribed in  a  wholly  materialistic  fashion  :  the  bigness 
of  the  clusters  of  grapes  and  the  abundance  of  wheat- 
ears  in  the  Messianic  reign  were  given  in  exact  meas- 
ure.* That  ideal  vein  which  gave  so  delicate  a  touch 
to  the  simplest  words  of  Jesus  is  here  almost  wholly 
lost,  and  it  may  be  noted  that  in  the  Synoptics  the 
view  of  the  sons  of  Zebedee  as  to  the  divine  kingdom 
is  wholly  carnal.^ 

In  Ephesus  the  greatness  of  John  increased  from  day 
to  day.^  His  commanding  authority  was  recognized 
throughout  the  province,  except  perhaps  at  Hierapolis, 
where  Philip  lived:  thus  Hierapolis  does  not  appear  in 
the  group  of  seven  churches  addressed  in  the  Apocalypse. 
Those  of  Smyrna,  Pergamos,  Thyatira,  Sardis,  Phila- 
delphia, and  Laodicaea,  had  adopted  him  as  their  chief, 

1  The  Jews  in  some  parts  of  the  East,  devoted  messianists,  spend  their 
time  at  this  day  in  searching  current  events  for  signs  of  the  Messiah,  and 
in  reckoning  the  date  by  means  of  wild  ghematrioth.  Thus  a  large  num- 
ber of  impostors  claim  to  be  Messiah,  especially  in  Yemen. 

2  Euseb.  iii.  39. 

8  In  all  this  Eusebius,  irritated  in  his  Greek  rationalism  by  this  un- 
bridled millenarianism,  sees  only  the  personal  errors  of  Papias. 

*  Papias  in  Iren.  v.  33  :  3,  4 ;  Apoc.  of  Baruch  (Ceriani),  i.  80 ;  v.  131. 
See  "  Life  of  Jesus,"  p.  41,  n. 

6  Matt.  XX.  20,  21 ;  Mark  x.  35-37. 

®  Epiphanius  {Hcer.  78.11)  rejects  as  unfounded  the  legends  which 
make  Mary,  the  mother  of  Jesus,  to  have  resided  with  him  at  Ephesus. 


THE  APOSTLES  IN  ASIA.  277 

and  listened  with  deference  to  his  warning,  counsel,  or 
reproach.  The  apostle  (or  those  who  took  upon  them 
to  speak  in  his  name)  generally  assumed  a  tone  of 
severity.  His  character  was  marked  by  great  rude- 
ness, extreme  intolerance,  with  harsh  and  even  coarse 
language  against  those  whose  opinion  was  opposed  to 
his.^  It  was  to  him  that  Jesus  addressed  those  words, 
"  He  that  is  not  against  us  is  on  our  side."  ^  The 
anecdotes  told  afterwards,  to  put  in  relief  his  gentle- 
ness and  softness  of  heart  ^  seem  to  have  been  invented 
to  be  in  accord  with  the  tone  of  the  epistles  ascribed  to 
him,  of  genuineness  more  than  doubtful.  Traits  of  an 
entirely  opposite  character,  exhibiting  much  violence  of 
temper,  are  more  in  keeping  with  the  gospel  accounts* 
or  with  the  Apocalypse ;  and  show  that  the  passion 
which  gave  him  the  title  "  son  of  thunder  "  was  only 
embittered  by  age.  It  may  be,  however,  that  the  very 
opposite  qualities  ascribed  to  him  need  not  for  that 
reason  be  ruled  out,  as  has  been  thought.  Religious 
fanaticism  often  yields  in  the  same  person  the  extremes 
of  harshness  and  gentleness  :  an  inquisitor  of  the  Middle 
Age,  who  burned  his  thousands  of  victims  for  the  merest 
subtilties  of  doctrine,  might  at  the  same  time  be  one  of 
the  gentlest  and  even  humblest  of  men. 

The  animosity  of  John  and  his  companions  seems 
to  have  been  especially  deep  and  bitter  against  the 
little  conventicles  of  the  teacher  whom  they  called 
"  the  new  Balaam."  ^     Such  is  the  inherent  injustice  of 

1  Iren.  iii.  3:4;  Euseb.  iii.  28  : 6;  Rev.  ii.,  iii. ;  2  John,  10,  11;  3 
John  9,  10. 

2  Mark  ix.  40. 

«  Clem.  Alex.  Quh  dives,  42  ;  Euseb.  iii.  23 ;  Jer.  In  Gal.  vi. 

*  Mark  iii.  17  ;  ix.  87,  38  ;  Luke  ix.  49,  54. 

^  See  "  Saint  Paul,"  chap.  xiii.     In  later  time,  the  name  "Balaam'* 


278  ANTICHRIST, 

party-spirit,  such  was  the  passion  which  inflamed  these 
hard  Jewish  souls  that  the  disappearance  of  the  "  de- 
stroyer of  the  Law  "  was  hailed  by  his  adversaries  with 
shouts  of  joy.^  For  many,  the  death  of  this  troubler, 
this  intruder,  was  a  real  relief.  We  have  seen  that 
Paul  found  himself  at  Ephesus  surrounded  by  enemies.^ 
His  last  words  spoken  at  Miletus  ^  are  full  of  sad  pre- 
sentiment. Early  in  69  we  shall  find  hatred  against 
him  still  obstinate  and  bitter.  After  this  the  contro- 
versy ceases,  and  silence  veils  his  memory.  At  the 
time  under  view,  no  one  seems  to  have  spoken  a  word 
for  him ;  and  this  is  just  what  saved  him  afterwards. 
The  silence,  or  (if  we  will)  the  feebleness  of  his  adher- 
ents brought  reconciliation.  The  boldest  thoughts  get 
accepted  at  length,  provided  they  keep  long  silence, 
and  make  no  reply  to  conservative  attack. 

With  all  believers,  the  dearest  thought  was  of  rage 
against  the  Roman  empire,  joy  at  the  disasters  that 
befell  it,  and  hope  to  see  it  soon  break  in  pieces.  Their 
sympathy  was  with  the  Jewish  insurrection,  and  they 
were  persuaded  that  the  Romans  would  not  come  out 
of  it  with  success.  It  was  long  since  Paul,  and  perhaps 
Peter,  had  taught  submission  to  Roman  rule,  even  as- 
cribing to  it  something  of  a  divine  character.  The 
principles  of  high-strung  Jews  about  the  refusal  of  trib- 
ute-money, the  diabolic  origin  of  all  pagan  power,  the 
idolatry  involved  in  civil  actions  done  after  Roman 
forms,  had  carried  the  day.  This  was  the  natural  con- 
was  also  given  among  the  Jews  to  Jesus  (Geiger,  Jud.  Zeits.  vi.  31-37). 
It  had  become  the  type  of  a  false  prophet  as  to  the  pagans,  and  a  deceiver 
of  Israel. 

1  Primasius,  Comment  on  the  Epistles  of  Paul  in  the  Bibl.  max.  Patrum 
(Lyons),  x.  144. 

a  "  Saint  Paul,"  chap.  xv.  »  Acts  xx.  29,  30. 


THE  APOSTLES  IN  ASIA.  279 

sequence  of  persecution  :  moderate  views  were  no  longer 
in  place.  Persecution,  though  not  so  ferocious  as  in  64, 
yet  continued  with  a  dull  pressure.^  The  fall  of  Nero 
had  nowhere  else  been  felt  as  it  was  in  Asia.  In  gen- 
eral opinion,  the  monster,  healed  by  some  satanic  power, 
still  kept  somewhere  hidden,  and  would  presently  reap- 
pear. We  may  conceive  what  effect  such  rumours 
must  have  among  the  Christians.  Many  of  the  faithful 
at  Ephesus,  including  perhaps  their  Head,  had  escaped 
from  the  dreadful  butcheries  of  Nero.  What !  will 
that  horrible  Beast  return,  then,  swollen  with  luxury, 
folly,  and  vainglory  ?  It  must  be  so,  those  would  think 
who  still  suspected  that  Nero  was  the  Antichrist.  He 
it  is,  that  mystery  of  iniquity,  that  mortal  foe  of  Jesus, 
who  shall  appear  to  slaughter  and  torture  mankind,  be- 
fore the  bright  coming  of  the  Latter  Day !  ^  Nero  is 
that  Satan  in  the  flesh,  who  will  complete  the  murder 
of  the  saints.  Yet  a  little  while,  and  the  awful  mo- 
ment will  have  come  !  This  thought  was  the  more 
readily  adopted  by  the  Christians,  since  the  death  of 
Nero  had  been  too  mean  an  incident  for  an  Antiochus : 
persecutors  on  such  a  scale  commonly  perish  in  a  more 
striking  way.  The  enemy  of  God,  it  was  inferred,  was 
reserved  for  some  more  tragic  fate,  which  should  be 
inflicted  on  him  in  view  of  all  men  and  angels,  gathered 
by  the  Messiah  to  the  judgment. 

This  idea,  from  which  the  Apocalypse  was  born,  took 
more  definite  shape  from  day  to  day.  The  Christian 
conscience  had  arrived  at  a  pitch  of  ecstasy,  when  a 
thing  took  place  in  the  islands  off  the  Asiatic  coast, 
which  all  at  once  gave  body  and  form  to  what  had 
hitherto  been  only  fancy.     A  pretended  Nero  had  just 

1  Rev.  xii.  17  ;  xvii.  14.  2  "  Saint  Paul,"  ch.  ix. 


28o  ANTICHRIST, 

appeared,  and  filled  the  provinces  of  Asia  and  Achaia 
with  an  eager  sentiment  of  curiosity,  hope,  or  terror.^ 
He  was,  it  would  seem,  a  slave  from  Pontus ;  according 
to  some,  an  Italian  slave  or  freedman.  In  appearance 
he  was  much  like  the  dead  emperor,  having  his  big 
eyes,  his  heavy  head  of  hair,  his  hawk-like  air,  his 
fierce  and  theatrical  aspect;  practised,  too,  like  him, 
with  harp  and  song.  This  pretender  gathered  about 
him  a  nucleus  of  deserters  and  vagabonds,  ventured  to 
put  to  sea,  hoping  to  reach  Syria  and  Egypt,  and  was 
wrecked  in  a  storm  on  the  island  of  Cythnos,  one  of 
the  Cyclades.  This  he  made  the  centre  of  quite  an 
active  propaganda,  increased  his  band  by  enlisting  a 
few  soldiers  on  their  return  from  the  East,  made  bloody 
executions,  plundered  some  traders,  and  gave  arms  to 
slaves.  There  was  great  excitement  among  the  com- 
mon people,  whose  credulity  made  them  a  prey  to  the 
wildest  rumours.  From  the  month  of  December,  68, 
all  the  talk  in  Asia  Minor  and  Greece  was  of  him.^ 
Apprehension  and  terror  increased  from  day  to  day. 
The  name  whose  evil  celebrity  had  filled  the  world 

*  The  story  is  told  by  Tacitus  {Hist.  ii.  8,  9).  Dion  Cassias  also  un- 
dertook to  relate  it,  but  Xiphilin  has  condensed  his  account  in  a  brief 
summary.  Zonaras,  who  also  only  abridges  Dion,  adds  a  few  details. 
(In  Zonaras  we  should  read  \v  Kvdva,  not  ev  KvSvco.) 

2  The  false  Nero  perished  under  Otho,  consequently  between  Jan.  15 
and  April  15,  a.  d.  69,  probably  near  the  earlier  date.  He  was  found  at 
Cythnos  by  Sisenna,  who  was  on  his  way  from  Syria  to  Rome  to  join  the 
movement  of  the  Pretorian  guard  who  had  proclaimed  Otho.  News  went 
from  Rome  to  Syria  in  ten  days;  Sisenna  must  have  set  out  as  soon  as 
the  proclamation  had  been  made  in  Syria,  and  may  have  arrived  in  Cyth- 
nos about  the  sixth  of  February.  Asprenas,  who  arrived  after  him,  was 
still  sailing  under  the  orders  of  Galba,  who  was  murdered  on  January  15. 
At  latest,  then,  the  false  Nero  was  wrecked  on  Cythnos  in  January,  69. 
As  his  intrigues  on  the  mainland  had  continued  for  some  time,  his  insur- 
rection must  have  begun  towards  the  end  of  68. 


THE  APOSTLES  IN  ASIA.  281 

turned  men's  heads  afresh,  and  made  them  think  that 
all  they  had  yet  seen  was  as  nothing  compared  to  what 
they  were  about  to  see. 

The  excitement  was  further  increased  by  events  hap- 
pening in  Asia,  or  the  Archipelago,  which  cannot  be 
here  set  forth  for  lack  of  clear  information.  An  ardent 
partisan  of  Nero,  who  besides  his  political  passion  had 
some  repute  as  a  conjurer,  declared  openly  either  for 
the  pretender  of  Cythnos,  or  for  Nero  supposed  to  be 
in  flight  among  the  Parthians.  He  apparently  com- 
pelled quiet  people  to  acknowledge  Nero;  he  restored 
his  statues,  and  forced  men  to  honour  them ;  we  might 
even  be  led  to  think  that  coin  was  struck  with  the 
legend,  Nero  rcdux.  What  we  do  know  is  that  the 
Christians  imagined  it  was  the  intention  to  make  them 
worship  Nero's  image.  Invincible  scruples  were  roused 
in  them  by  the  coin,  the  "  mark  '*  (xoipayfia)  or  metallic 
ticket  having  the  name  of  "  the  Beast,"  without  which 
"  they  could  neither  buy  nor  sell."  ^  Gold  stamped 
with  the  sign  of  the  great  Head  of  idolatry  burned 
their  hand.  Rather  than  yield  to  such  acts  of  apos- 
tasy, some  of  the  faithful  seem  to  have  exiled  them- 
selves from  Ephesus :  we  may  suppose  that  John  was 
among  them.^  This  incident,  obscure  to  us,  plays  a 
great  part  in  the  Apocalypse,  and  perhaps  was  what 
first  prompted  the  issuing  of  it.  "  Hark  !  "  says  the 
Seer,  "  this  is  the  end  of  the  long-suffering  of  the 
saints,  who  keep  the  command  of  God  and  the  faith 
of  Jesus."  ^ 

^  Rev.  xiii.,  xiv. ;  note  especially,  in  xiv.  9-12,  the  writer's  urgency, 
and  the  phrase,  '*  patience  of  the  saints  "  (ver.  12).  Corap.  xx.  4,  where 
*'  they  who  had  not  worshipped  the  Beast  "  are  put  in  the  same  rank  with 
the  martyrs  under  Nero. 

2  llev.  i.  9 ;  XX.  4.  «  Rev.  xiv.  12. 


282  ANTICHRIST, 

Events  in  Rome  and  Italy  justified  this  feverish  out- 
look. Galba  did  not  succeed  in  keeping  his  authority. 
Down  to  Nero,  the  legal  title  inherited  from  Julius  and 
Augustus  had  stifled  among  the  generals  any  thought 
of  competing  for  the  empire.  But  now  that  this  title 
was  extinct,  any  military  chief  might  aspire  to  that 
inheritance.  Vindex  was  dead  ;  Verginius  had  loyally 
submitted ;  Nymphidius  Sabinus,  Macer,  and  Fonteius 
Capito  had  expiated  their  plots  by  death ;  still  nothing 
had  been  settled.  On  the  second  of  January,  69,  the 
legions  in  Germany  proclaimed  Vitellius ;  on  the  tenth, 
Galba  adopted  Piso ;  on  the  fifteenth,  Otho  was  pro- 
claimed at  Rome.  For  a  few  hours  there  were  three 
emperors  ;  but  at  night  Galba  was  murdered.  Faith 
in  the  empire  was  deeply  shaken.  It  was  not  thought 
that  Otho  could  reign  alone.  Hopes  were  openly  ex- 
pressed by  partisans  of  the  false  Nero  at  Cythnos,  and 
by  those  who  dreamed  from  day  to  day  that  they  might 
see  the  emperor  they  mourned  returning  from  beyond 
the  Euphrates.  Then,  at  the  end  of  January,^  there 
went  abroad  among  the  Christians  of  Asia  Minor  a 
symbolic  manifesto,  claiming  to  be  a  revelation  from 
Jesus  himself.  Did  the  writer  know  the  death  of 
Galba,^  or  did  he  only  foresee  it  ?  This  is  the  harder 
to  decide,  since  (after  the  manner  of  apocalyptic  books) 

^  This  date  may  be  open  to  one  objection.  The  passages  in  Rev.  xi. 
2,  and  xx.  9,  seem  to  assume  the  blockade  of  Jerusalem  as  already  begun, 
which  it  was  not  till  March  of  the  following  year.  But  these  passages, 
in  poetic  style,  are  justified  by  the  condition  to  which  the  revolt  had  been 
reduced  by  Vespasian's  campaigns  in  67  and  68  (see  chap.  xii.).  Luke 
xxi.  20,  21,  requires  a  similar  explanation.  It  is  clear  that  when  the 
Apocalypse  was  written  the  Temple  was  still  standing :  the  writer  does 
not  even  fear  lest  it  may  be  destroyed.  Xor  does  Rev.  xvii.  16  necessar 
rily  refer  to  the  burning  of  the  Capitol  on  December  19,  69. 

2  Rev.  xvii.  10. 


THE  APOSTLES  IN  ASIA.  283 

the  writer  at  times  avails  himself  of  some  recent  event, 
which  he  thinks  known  only  to  himself,  to  give  the 
more  credit  to  his  prophetic  foresight :  thus,  for  exam- 
ple, the  composer  of  "  Daniel "  seems  to  have  had  some 
hint  of  the  death  of  Antiochus ;  and  Commodian  may 
have  had  private  knowledge  of  the  defeat  and  death  of 
Decius.  In  like  manner  the  Seer  of  the  Apocalypse 
seems  to  have  had  private  information  of  the  political 
events  of  his  time.  It  is  doubtful  whether  he  knew 
Otho;  he  thinks  that  Nero  will  be  restored  directly 
upon  the  fall  of  Galba,  whom  he  regards  as  already 
condemned,  so  that  the  return  of  the  Beast  is  close  at 
hand.  His  glowing  imagination  then  displays  to  him 
a  series  of  views  of  what  will  "  shortly  come  to  pass,"  ^ 
and  thus  he  unfolds  chapter  after  chapter  of  a  prophetic 
book,  whose  object  is  to  enlighten  the  Christian  con- 
science upon  the  events  now  passing,  to  reveal  the  true 
meaning  of  a  political  situation  that  disturbs  the  firm- 
est minds,  and,  above  all,  to  reassure  them  as  to  the 
destiny  of  their  brethren  already  slain.  We  must  call 
to  mind  that  the  credulous  sectaries  whose  thought  we 
are  trying  to  retrace  were  a  thousand  leagues  away 
from  the  ideas  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul  borrowed 
from  the  Greek  philosophy.  The  martyrdoms  of  recent 
years  made  a  terrible  crisis  for  a  community  which 
trembled  like  a  child  at  the  death  of  a  saint,  and  ques- 
tioned anxiously  whether  such  a  one  should  see  the 

^  Rev.  i.  1 ;  xxii.  6.  The  Jews  of  the  time  were  much  inclined  to 
form  such  conjectures  as  to  the  succession  of  emperors,  and  what  will 
happen  to  each.  These  conjectures  are  founded  on  the  frightful  images 
of  their  dreams,  eked  out  with  texts  of  Scripture.  A  talent  for  inter- 
preting these  dark  hints  was  highly  prized.  Thus  Josephus  claims  to 
have  known  beforehand  the  accession  of  the  Flavian  family  (IFars,  iii. 
8;  3). 


284  ANTICHRIST, 

kingdom  of  God.^  They  felt  an  unconquerable  need  to 
conceive  of  those  who  had  died  in  the  faith  as  in  shel- 
ter, and  already  happy  —  though  only  in  transitory 
bliss  —  amid  the  disasters  which  were  to  afflict  the 
earth.^  The  brethren  heard  their  cries  ior  vengeance, 
felt  their  pious  impatience,  and  called  for  the  day 
when  God  would  arise  at  length  and  avenge  his  own 
chosen  ones. 

The  form  of  "  apocalypse  "  chosen  by  the  writer  was 
not  new  in  Israel.  Ezekiel  had  introduced  a  consider- 
able change  in  the  old  prophetic  style,  and  he  may  be 
regarded  as,  in  a  sense,  the  creator  of  the  class  of 
literature  known  as  apocalyptic.  For  burning  appeal, 
sometimes  accompanied  by  allegoric  acts  extremely 
simple,  he  had  —  doubtless  under  the  influence  of  As- 
syrian art  —  substituted  vision ;  that  is,  a  complex 
symbolism,  in  which  the  abstract  idea  is  represented  by 
imaginary  beings  outside  of  all  reality.  Zechariah  con- 
tinued upon  the  same  road  ;  vision  became  the  obliga- 
tory framework  for  all  prophetic  instruction.  Finally, 
the  writer  of  "  Daniel,"  by  the  extraordinary  fame  he 
won,  fixed  definitely  the  rules  for  this  order  of  compo- 
sition. The  Book  of  Enoch,  the  Assumption  of  Moses, 
certain  Sibylline  poems,^  were  the  fruit  of  this  powerful 

1  See  ♦*  Saint  Paul,"  chap.  ix.  ^  j^gv.  xiv.  13. 

8  The  specimens  of  apocalyptical  literature,  known  or  attested,  may  be 
approximately  classed  thus :  1.  Daniel,  about  b.  c.  164  ;  2.  Sibylline 
poem  (Jewish,  iii.  §§  2,  4)  ;  3.  Book  of  Enoch;  4.  Assumption  of  Moses ; 
5.  Apocalypse  of  John  ;  6.  Sibylline  poem,  iv.,  a.  d.  80;  7.  Apocalypse  of 
Esdras,  a.  d.  97;  8.  Apocalypse  of  Baruch;  9.  Ascension  of  Isaiah  ;  10. 
Sibylline  poems  of  the  2d  century ;  11.  Apocalypse  of  Peter  (canon  of 
Muratori,  70,  71) ;  12.  Apocalypse  of  one  Judas,  time  of  Sept.  Severus 
(Eus.  vi.  7)  ;  13.  Commodian,  Carmen ;  about  a.  d.  250.  To  these  we  may 
add  "Testament  of  the  Twelve  Patriarchs,"  and  the  "Shepherd"  of 
Hermas.  Others,  "apocryphal  apocalypses,"  published  by  Tischendorf 
(Leipzig,  1866),  are  more  recent  imitations. 


THE  APOSTLES  IN  ASIA,  285 

stock.  This  framework  of  fancy  was  well  suited  to 
the  prophetic  genius  of  the  Semites,^  their  habit  of 
grouping  events  in  some  general  scheme  of  history,  and 
exhibiting  their  own  thought  in  the  guise  of  a  divine 
necessity,  with  broad  clear  glimpses  into  the  future. 
To  every  critical  situation  in  the  affairs  of  Israel  there 
was  thenceforth  a  book  of  visions  to  correspond.  The 
persecution  of  Antiochus,  the  Roman  conquest,  the  pro- 
fane rule  of  Herod,  —  each  had  called  out  its  ardent 
Seer.  Inevitably,  the  reign  of  Nero  and  the  siege  of 
Jerusalem  must  have  their  apocalyptic  message  ;  just 
as  afterwards  the  cruelties  of  Domitian,  Hadrian,  Sep- 
timius  Severus,  and  Decius,  and  the  invasions  of  the 
Goths  (a.  D.  250),  called  forth  each  its  own. 

The  writer  of  this  strange  book,  destined  by  a  stran- 
ger fate  to  such  wildly  differing  expositions,  com- 
posed it  in  obscurity,  freighted  it  with  the  whole 
weight  of  the  Christian  conscience,  and  sent  it  as  an 
epistle  to  the  seven  chief  churches  of  Asia,  —  Colossae 
and  Hierapolis,  as  we  have  seen,  not  being  included. 
He  required  that  it  should  be  read,  as  was  the  custom 
with  all  apostolic  letters,  to  the  assembled  brethren 
(i.  3).  In  this  he  perhaps  had  in  mind  the  example  of 
Paul,  who  had  rather  address  his  hearers  by  letter  than 
in  person.^  Such  missives  were  not  rare,  and  their  topic 
was  always  the  looked-for  coming  of  the  Lord.  As- 
sumed revelations  in  the  name  of  different  apostles  were 
current,  predicting  that  the  Last  Day  was  at  hand  ;  so 
that  Paul  found  himself  compelled  to  warn  his  churches 
against  the  abuse  that  might  be  made  of  his  name  to 

^  See  a  letter  from  Abd-el-Kader,  on  the  future  of  Islam  :  Journal  des 
Debats,  14  July,  1860. 
2  2  Cor.  X.  10. 


286  ANTICHRIST, 

support  such  frauds.^  The  present  book  opens  with  an 
introduction  to  set  forth  its  source  and  extreme  im- 
portance:  thus, — 

Revelation  (JnroKaXv^i^)  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  God  gave 
him  to  show  his  servants  what  will  speedily  come  to  pass,  and 
which  he  sent  by  his  own  angel  ^  to  his  servant  John,  who 
offers  himself  as  an  eye-witness,  a  pledge  of  the  word  of  God 
and  of  the  declaration  of  it  made  by  Christ.^  Happy  is  he 
that  shall  [publicly]  read,  and  they  who  shall  hear  the  words 
of  this  prophecy  and  heed  them ;  for  the  time  is  at  hand. 

John  to  the  seven  churches  of  Asia :  Grace  and  peace  be 
to  you  from  Him  who  is,  and  was,  and  will  be,  and  from  the 
seven  Spirits  who  stand  before  his  throne,*  and  from  Jesus 
Christ,  the  faithful  witness,  the  first-born  from  among  the 
dead,  prince  of  the  kings  of  the  earth,  who  loves  us  and 
has  washed  us  from  sin  in  his  own  blood,  who  has  made  us 
kings  and  priests  of  God  his  Father,  to  whom  be  glory  and 
power  for  ever.    Amen. 

Behold,  he  comes  upon  the  clouds,  and  every  eye  of  those 
who  pierced  him  ^  shall  look  upon  him,  and  all  tribes  of  the 
earth  shall  be  in  mourning  ["  beat  their  breasts "]  at  the 
sight  of  him.  Yes,  verily.  "  I  am  the  alpha  and  the  omega^'' 
saith  the  Lord  God  ;  "  he  that  is,  and  was,  and  will  be ;  the 
Almighty." 

I,  John,  your  brother  and  companion  in  persecution,  in  the 
kingdom  and  firm  expectation  of  Christ,  found  myself  in 
the  island  called  Patmos,  through  (Sta)  the  word  of  God  and 
the  testimony  of  Jesus  Christ.^    I  was  in  a  trance  (eV  irvevixaTi) 

1  2  Thess.  ii.  2  ("nor  by  letter  as  from  us"). 

2  Or  messenger  :  comp.  xix.  9,  10 ;  xii.  6. 

8  We  might  incline  to  render  this :  "  Who  has  given  testimony  to  the 
word  of  God  and  the  preaching  of  Jesus,  of  which  he  was  an  eye-witness." 
But  i.  19,  20,  with  xx.  4,  show  that  these  words  are  spoken  of  this 
present  vision. 

4  Rev.  viii.  2;  Tob.  xii.  15.  ^  See  John  xix.  37;  Zeeh.  xii.  10. 

6  The  formula  (i.  9)  is  obscure;  cf.  i.  2j  vi.  9;  xi.  7;  xii.  11,  17;  xix. 
10  ;  XX.  4. 


THE  APOSTLES  IN  ASIA.  287 

on  the  Lord's  Day,  and  I  heard  behind  me  a  loud  voice,  like 
the  sound  of  a  trumpet,  saying,  "  What  thou  shalt  see  write 
in  a  book,  and  send  it  to  the  seven  churches  at  Ephesus, 
Smyrna,  Pergamos,  Thyatira,  Sardis,  Philadelphia,  and  Lao- 
dicasa."  And  I  turned  back  to  see  the  Voice  that  spoke  to 
me  ;  and  when  1  had  turned  I  saw  seven  candlesticks  of  gold, 
and  in  the  midst  of  the  candlesticks  One  like  a  son  of  man,^ 
clad  in  a  long  robe  ^  and  girt  about  the  breast  with  a  belt  of 
gold.3  The  hair  of  his  head  was  glittering  like  a  white  fleece, 
or  like  snow;  his  eyes  were  like  a  flame  of  fire ;  his  feet  like 
fine  brass  in  a  blazing  furnace ;  and  his  voice  like  the  sound 
of  many  waters.*  In  his  right  hand  he  held  seven  stars,  and 
from  his  mouth  went  forth  a  broad,  sharp  two-edged  sword ; 
and  the  sight  of  him  was  as  of  the  sun  in  its  strength.  And 
when  I  saw  him,  I  fell  at  his  feet  like  a  dead  man ;  but  he 
laid  his  hand  on  me,  and  said,  "  Do  not  fear.  I  am  the  first 
and  the  last,  and  am  alive ;  I  was  dead,  and  behold  I  live  for- 
ever [ages  of  ages]  ;  and  I  hold  the  keys  of  death  and  of  the 
grave  [Hades].  Write,  then,  what  thou  hast  seen,  both  that 
which  is  and  that  which  will  be  after  this,  —  the  mystery  of 
the  seven  stars  in  my  right  hand,  and  the  seven  candlesticks. 
The  seven  stars  are  the  angels  of  the  seven  churches,  and  the 
seven  candlesticks  are  the  seven  churches." 

In  the  Jewish  notions  of  the  time,  half  gnostic  or 
cabalistic,  every  person,^  and  even  every  ideal  existence 
—  as  Death  or  Grief  —  has  a  guardian  angel:  there 
was  an  angel  of  Persia,  of  Greece,  —  as  the  "  guards  " 
(P"l*i^)  of  Daniel  and  the  "  watchers  '*  {iyp-rjyopoL)  of 
Enoch  ;  ^  an  angel  of  the  waters,^  of  fire,^  of  the  winds,^ 

^  The  common  title  of  the  Messiah  in  apocalyptic  books :  Dan.  vii.  13 ; 
Matt.  viii.  20. 

2  Like  the  Jewish  his^h-priest:  Jos.  Ant.  iii.  7:4;  xx.  1:1;  Dan,  x.  5. 
8  Comp.  Jos.  Ant.  iii.  7:  2  (npos  arepvov). 

*  All  this  is  imitated  from  Daniel  x.  5,  6.  ^  Matt,  xviii.  10. 

•  Dan.  X.  13,  20;  Deut.  xxxii.  8.  Accordinsr  to  Shir  hassliirim  rabba, 
no  people  is  punished  but  that  its  angel  is  punished  first. 

7  Rev.  xvi.  5.  ^  /j/j.  xiv.  18.  »  Ihid.  vii.  1. 


288  ANTICHRIST. 

and  of  the  Pit.^  Naturally,  then,  each  church  had  its 
celestial  representative.  To  this  "  angel  '*  {ferouer  or 
genius  ^)  of  each  community  the  Son  of  Man  addresses 
his  admonition,  each  in  turn. 

To  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Ephesus :  This  is  what  He 
says  who  holds  the  seven  stars  in  his  right  hand,  and  walks 
in  the  midst  of  the  seven  golden  candlesticks:  — 

I  know  thy  works  and  toil  and  patience ;  and  that  thou 
canst  not  endure  the  wicked.  And  thou  hast  tried  those  who 
call  themselves  apostles  but  are  not  [an  allusion  to  Paul],  and 
hast  found  them  liars,  and  hast  borne  all  things  for  my  name, 
and  hast  not  wearied.  But  I  have  it  against  thee  that  thou 
hasfc  let  go  thy  first  love.  Remember,  then,  from  what  thou 
hast  fallen,  and  repent,  and  return  to  thy  first  works ;  or  else 
I  will  come  to  thee  quickly,  and  take  thy  candlestick  out  of  its 
place,  unless  thou  repent.  But  this  is  in  thy  favour,  that 
thou  hatest  the  works  of  the  Nicolaitans,^  which  I  also  hate. 
Let  him  who  has  an  ear  hearken  to  what  the  Spirit  says  to 
the  churches !  To  him  that  overcomes  I  will  give  to  eat  from 
the  tree  of  life  which  is  in  the  paradise  of  God.* 

To  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Smyrna :  This  is  what  He 
says  who  is  first  and  last,  who  was  dead  and  is  alive : 

1  know  thy  works  and  suffering  and  poverty  —  yet  thou  art 
rich ;  and  the  evil  words  of  those  [the  followers  of  Paul]  who 
call  themselves  Jews  while  they  are  not,  but  are  a  synagogue  of 
Satan.^     Be  not  afraid  of  what  thou  hast  to  suffer.     Behold, 

'  Rev.  ix.  11.  So  the  angels  of  the  winds  (in  Enoch  xx.);  of  the  sea  (Bab. 
Talm.,  Bdba  bathra,  74  &);  of  rain  (id.  Taanith,  25  b)  ;  of  hail  (id.  Pesachim^ 
118  a).  See  also  Apoc.  of  Adam ^  in  the  Journ.  Asiat.,  Nov. -Dec,  1853; 
and  especially  an  analysis  of  the  Divmi  of  the  Mendaites  in  Migne's  Diet, 
des  Apocr.  I  283-285. 

2  So  the  "  genius  of  indirect  contributions  :  "  Comptes  rendus  de  VAcad., 
1868,  p.  109. 

8  The  partisans  of  Paul.     See  "  Saint  Paul,"  chaps,  x.,  xiii. 

4  Rev.  ii.  1-7. 

^  "  Satan"  here  represents  idolatry.  The  Pauline  gatherings  are  here 
called  idolatrous  feasts,  because  "unclean"  meats  and  those  sacrificed  to 
idols  are  eaten  in  them,  as  in  pagan  festivals. 


THE  APOSTLES  IN  ASIA.  289 

the  false  accuser  will  cast  many  of  you  into  prison,  that  you 
may  have  your  ten  days'  trial.^  But  be  faithful  to  death,  and 
I  will  give  thee  a  crown  of  life.  Let  him  who  has  an  ear 
hearken  to  what  the  Spirit  says  to  the  churches !  He  that 
overcomes  will  have  nothing  to  suffer  from  the  second  death.^ 

To  the  angel  of  the  church  at  Pergamos :  This  is  what  He 
says  who  holds  the  sharp  two-edged  sword:  — 

I  know  that  where  thou  livest  is  the  home  of  Satan.^  But 
thou  hast  kept  my  name  and  hast  not  denied  my  faith,  even 
when  Antipas  my  faithful  witness  was  slain  among  you,  in 
the  place  where  Satan  dwells.*  But  I  have  something  against 
thee ;  that  there  are  with  thee  men  who  hold  the  doctrine 
of  Balaam,  who  taught  Balak  to  lay  a  snare  for  the  sons  of 
Israel,  to  eat  meats  sacrificed  to  idols,  and  to  commit  fornica- 
tion.^ So  do  those  who  profess  the  doctrine  of  the  Nicolai- 
tans.  Repent,  then  ;  or  I  will  come  to  thee  speedily,  and  fight 
against  thee  with  the  sword  of  my  mouth.  Let  him  who  has 
an  car  hearken  to  what  the  Spirit  says  to  the  churches !  To 
him  that  overcomes  I  will  give  of  the  hidden  manna,^  and  I 
will  bestow  on  him  a  white  pebble,"^  on  which  will  be  written 
a  new  name,  which  no  one  will  know  excepting  him  who  has 
received  it.^ 

To  the  angel  of  the  church  at  Thyatira :  This  is  spoken  by 

1  Dan.  i.  14,  15. 

^  Rev.  ii.  8-11.  All  men  die  once,  but  the  wicked  will  die  twice;  for 
after  the  resurrection  and  judgment  they  will  be  thrust  back  into  complete 
extinction. 

*  An  allusion  to  the  worship  of  ^sciilapius  at  Pergamos.  His  serpent 
must  have  been  taken  by  the  Jews  for  a  special  symbol  of  Satan. 

*  The  amphitheatre.     See  p.  160,  ante, 

^  Num.  xxiv.,  XXV.     Another  allusion  to  the  partisans  of  Paul. 

^  Ex.  xvi.  33;   Carm.  Sihyll.,  proem,  87. 

■^  The  mark  for  acquittal  at  court.  If  the  trial  was  by  lot,  names 
were  written  on  white  pebbles.  Victors  at  the  Olympic  and  other  games 
received  a  ballot  in  like  form,  entitling  them  to  sundry  privileges ;  and 
similar  ballots  were  used  to  indicate  prizes  in  a  lottery  (Suet.  Caius,  18; 
Dion  Cass.  Ixvi.  25).  The  "  new  name  "  is  that  which  the  elect  will  bear 
in  the  heavenly  kingdom. 

8  Rev.  ii.  12-17. 

19 


29©  ANTICHRIST, 

the  Son  of  God,  whose  eyes  are  as  a  flame  of  fire,  and  his  feet 
as  fine  brass :  — 

I  know  thy  works  and  thy  love  and  thy  faith  and  thy 
ministry  of  charity  and  patience,  and  that  thy  last  works 
are  more  than  those  before.  Yet  I  have  this  against  thee, 
that  thou  leavest  free  that  woman  Jezebel,^  caUing  herself  a 
prophetess,  who  teaches  and  misleads  my  servants  to  commit 
fornication,  and  to  eat  meats  sacrificed  to  idols.  1  have  given 
her  time  to  repent,  and  she  will  not  repent.'-^  Behold  I  will 
cast  her  upon  a  bed  [of  sickness],  and  those  who  have  sinned 
with  her  I  will  punish  with  great  suffering  if  they  will  not 
repent  of  their  misdeeds;  and  her  children  I  will  put  to  death, 
and  all  the  churches  shall  know  that  it  is  I  who  search  the 
reins  and  the  heart :  I  will  repay  to  you  every  one  according 
to  his  works.  And  to  the  others  of  you  in  Thyatira,  who  do 
not  hold  that  doctrine,  or  know  —  to  use  their  own  words  — 
"  the  deep  things  "  of  Satan,^  I  will  not  lay  upon  you  any  other 
burden.*  But  what  you  have,  hold  fast  until  I  come.  lie 
who  shall  overcome  and  keep  my  works  until  the  end,  I  will 
give  him  power  over  the  nations ;  and  he  shall  rule  them 
with  a  rod  of  iron,^  and  like  earthen  vessels  they  shall  be 
shivered  in  pieces,  as  I  have  received  power  of  my  Father ; 
and  I  will  give  him  the  morning  star.  Let  him  who  has  an 
ear  hearken  to  what  the  Spirit  says  to  the  churches  ! 

To  the  angel  of  the  church  at  Sardis :  This  is  what  He  says 
who  holds  the  seven  spirits  of  God  and  the  seven  stars :  — 

1  know  thy  works ;  thou  hast  a  name  that  thou  livest,  and 
art  dead.  Be  watchful,  and  strengthen  the  remaining  things, 
which  are  ready  to  die ;  for  I  have  not  found  thy  work  perfect 
before  my  God.    Remember  how  thou  hast  received  and  heard 

■^  This  is  some  woman  of  influence  at  Thyatira,  a  disciple  of  Paul. 

2  See  "  Saint  Paul,"  chap.  vi.  s  i  Cor.  ii.  10. 

*  The  pagan  converts  might  suppose,  from  his  extreme  severity  as  to 
unlawful  meats,  that  he  would  force  upon  them  all  the  burden  of  the 
Mosaic  Law.  He  reassures  them  by  saying  they  have  only  to  observe  the 
rule  as  laid  down  in  Acts  xv. 

^  Ps.  ii.  9  (differently  pointed),  considered  as  applying  to  the  IMessiah. 
This  passage  is  a  favourite  one  with  the  Seer.     Comp.  xii.  5  ;  xix.  15. 


THE  APOSTLES  IN  ASIA.  291 

the  word,  and  hold  it  fast,  and  repent.  If  thou  watch  not,  I 
will  come  like  a  thief,^  and  thou  wilt  not  know  at  what  hour 
I  shall  come.  Still,  thou  hast  a  few  names  in  Sardis  of  those 
who  have  not  defiled  their  garments ;  they  shall  walk  with  me 
in  white  apparel,  for  they  are  worthy.  He  that  overcomes 
shall  thus  be  clad  in  white  raiment,  and  I  will  not  blot  his 
name  from  the  book  of  life ;  ^  and  I  will  confess  him  before 
my  Father  and  his  angels.  Let  him  that  has  an  ear  hearken 
to  what  the  Spirit  says  to  the  churches  I 

To  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Philadelphia :  Thus  speaks 
the  Holy  One,  the  true.  He  who  holds  the  key  of  David,  who 
opens  and  no  man  can  shut,^  who  shuts  and  none  can  open :  — 

I  know  thy  works :  behold,  I  have  set  before  thee  an  open 
door  [for  the  advancement  of  the  gospel],  which  no  man  can 
shut;  though  weak,  thou  hast  kept  my  word,  and  hast  not 
denied  my  name.  Behold,  I  will  cause  these  men  of  the  syn- 
agogue of  Satan,  who  call  themselves  Jews  and  are  not,  but 
lie,  —  I  will  cause  them  to  come  and  throw  themselves  at  thy 
feet,  that  they  may  know  thee  to  be  dear  to  me.  Because 
thou  hast  kept  my  command  of  patience,  T  too  will  preserve 
thee  from  the  hour  of  bitter  trial  which  must  come  upon  all 
the  world  to  prove  those  who  live  upon  the  earth.  I  come 
quickly ;  keep  well  what  thou  liast,  that  no  one  may  take  thy 
crown.  Him  that  overcomes  I  will  make  a  pillar  in  the  tem- 
ple of  my  God,  and  he  shall  no  more  go  out,  and  I  will  write 
upon  him  (this  pillar)  the  name  of  my  God  [Jehovah],  and 
the  name  of  the  city  of  my  God,  the  new  Jerusalem,  coming 
down  out  of  heaven  from  my  God,  and  my  own  new  name.* 
Let  him  who  has  an  ear  hearken  to  what  the  Spirit  says  to 
the  churches  ! 

To  the  angel  of  the  church  of  Laodicea :  Thus  speaks  the 
Amen,^  the  faithful  and  true  witness,  the  first-born  of  the 
creation  of  God  :  — 

1  Matt.  xxiv.  43 ;  1  Thess.  v.  2. 

2  Dan.  xii.  1 ;  Enoch  xxvii.  3.  *  Isa.  xxii.  22. 

*  Comp.  Rev.  xix.  12. 

*  Christ,  in  whom  all  is  spoken  and  proved  true  (Isa.  Ixv.  16.) 


292  ANTICHRIST. 

I  know  thy  works ;  thou  art  neither  cold  nor  hot.  Would 
that  thou  wert  either  cold  or  hot ;  but,  since  thou  art  luke- 
warm, and  neither  cold  nor  hot,  I  will  spue  thee  out  of  my 
mouth.  Thou  sayest  to  thyself,  "  I  am  rich  and  full  of  abun- 
dance, and  need  nothing ; "  ^  and  seest  not  that  thou  art 
wretched  and  miserable  and  poor  and  blind  and  naked.  I 
counsel  thee  to  buy  of  me  gold  tried  in  the  fire,^  that  thou 
mayest  be  truly  rich ;  and  white  raiment  to  wear,  to  hide  the 
shame  of  thy  nakedness ;  and  ointment  to  anoint  thine  eyes, 
that  thou  mayest  see  clearly.  Those  whom  I  love  I  rebuke 
and  chastise :  be  zealous,  therefore,  and  repent.  Behold,  I 
stand  at  the  door  and  knock  !  If  any  one  will  hear  my  voice, 
and  open  the  door,  1  will  come  in  to  him,  and  will  eat  with 
him,  and  he  with  me.  To  him  that  overcomes  I  will  grant  to 
sit  with  me  upon  my  throne ;  even  as  I  too  have  overcome, 
and  sit  with  my  Father  on  his  throne.  Let  him  who  has  an 
ear  hearken  to  what  the  Spirit  says  to  the  churches ! 

Now,  who  is  this  "  John,"  who  dares  to  make  him- 
self the  interpreter  of  the  celestial  decrees,  who  speaks 
in  such  a  tone  of  authority  to  the  churches  of  Asia, 
who  boasts  of  having  endured  the  same  persecutions 
with  his  readers?^  It  is  either  the  apostle  John,  or 
another  teacher  of  the  same  name,  or  some  one  who 
wishes  to  pass  as  the  apostle.  It  is  hardly  to  be  ad- 
mitted that  in  the  year  69,  in  the  apostle's  lifetime  or 
very  soon  after  his  death,  any  one  assumed  that  name 
without  his  consent  for  counsels  and  reprimands  so 
close-home.  Nor  among  those  bearing  the  same  name 
would  any  one  have  dared  to  take  that  tone.  "  John 
the  Elder,"  the  only  one  suggested,  if  he  ever  existed, 
belonged  (from  all  that  appears)  to  a  later  generation.* 

^  Laodicea  was  a  very  wealthy  city:  Tac.  Ann.  xiv.  27. 
2  Isa.  Iv.  1. 

*  Rev.  i.  9:  the  expression  in  ver.  2  is  ambiguous. 

*  Papias  in  Euseb.  iii.  39. 


THE  APOSTLES  IN  ASIA.  293 

Doubts,  I  admit,  beset  all  questions  of  genuineness  of 
the  so-called  apostolic  writings.  We  see  how  small 
scruple  was  felt  at  ascribing  to  apostles,  or  sainted 
persons,  revelations  for  which  authority  was  sought.^ 
But  I  hold  it  as  probable  that  the  Apocalypse  is  really 
the  work  of  the  apostle  John ;  or,  at  least,  that  it  was 
acknowledged  by  him,  and  addressed  to  those  churches 
by  his  sanction.^  The  deep  impression  made  by  Nero's 
massacres,  the  sense  of  the  dangers  which  the  writer 
has  incurred,  the  horror  of  Rome,  —  all  seem  to  suit 
the  apostle,  who,  in  my  view  of  it,  had  been  in  Rome, 
and  might  say  of  those  tragic  events,  "  I,  too,  had  my 
share  in  them."  ^  He  is  choked  and  blinded  with  blood  : 
he  cannot  see  things  as  they  are.  The  picture  of  the 
atrocities  of  that  time  besets  him  like  a  fixed  idea. 
But  serious  objections  here  make  the  task  of  criticism 
very  delicate.  The  fondness  of  the  early  Christian  age 
for  mystery  and  apocryphal  writing  has  wrapped  in 
thick  darkness  every  question  of  New-Testament  lite- 
rary history.  Happily,  the  soul  speaks  out  in  these 
nameless  or  misnamed  books  in  tones  which  cannot 
deceive.  It  is  out  of  our  power  to  distinguish  each 
man's  part  in  a  popular  movement :  the  true  creative 
genius  is  the  spirit  that  animates  all. 

Whoever  the  writer  of  the  Apocalypse  may  be,  why 
did  he  choose  the  island  of  Patmos  as  the  scene  of  his 

1  2  Thess.  ii.  2;  Rev.  xxii.  18,  19.  Compare  the  cases  of  "  Daniel  " 
and  "  Enoch,"  observing  that  the  assumed  writer  is  at  a  distance  of  cen- 
turies ;  while  the  real  and  the  pretended  writer  of  the  Apocalypse  would 
be  contemporary. 

*  See  Introduction  to  this  volume,  pages  12-24,  28,  29. 

*  Compare  the  situation,  in  England  (1706),  of  Elie  Marion,  who  had 
taken  part  in  the  insurrection  of  the  Camisards  in  the  Cevennes  under 
Louis  XIV.,  whose  testimony  is  mingled  with  ecstasies  and  visions. 


294  ANTICHRIST. 

vision  ?  It  is  hard  to  say ;  there  is  no  symbolic  mean- 
ing in  the  name  which  we  can  detect.  Patmos,  or 
Patnos  {Fatino),  is  a  little  island  some  twelve  miles 
long  and  very  narrow.^  In  Greek  antiquity  it  was 
flourishing  and  populous.^  In  the  Roman  period  it 
retained  all  the  importance  which  its  size  admitted, 
owing  to  its  port,  formed  at  the  middle  of  the  island 
by  the  isthmus  which  joins  the  northern  and  southern 
portions.  In  the  coasting  navigation  of  the  time,  Pat- 
mos  was  the  first  or  the  last  stopping-place  on  the  way 
between  Rome  and  Ephesus.  It  is  an  error  to  speak  of 
it  as  a  reef  or  a  desert.  It  was  once,  and  may  be  again, 
one  of  the  most  important  seaports  of  the  Archipelago, 
being  at  the  point  where  many  lines  meet.  If  Asia 
should  revive,  Patmos  would  be  to  that  what  Syra  is 
to  modern  Greece,  or  what  Delos  or  Rlienea  was  in 
antiquity,  —  a  sort  of  way-station  for  marine  traffic,  and 
a  centre  of  correspondence  serviceable  to  travellers. 

1  See  L.  Ross,  Reisen  (1843),  ii. ;  Tischendorf,  Reisen  (1846),  ii.  258- 
265;  id.  Terre  Sainte  (tr.,  1868),  278-284;  V.  Guerin,  Description,  etc., 
Paris  (1856);  Stanley,  Sermons  in  the  East  (1863),  225;  Julleville  (Rev. 
des  cours  litt.  March,  1867).  It  has  now  about  4,000  inhabitants.  It  is 
composed  of  three  rocky  masses,  connected  by  narrow  necks,  the  summits 
being  somewhat  under  1,000  feet  high. 

2  Patmos  is  rarely  mentioned  by  the  ancient  writers:  Strabo,  x.  5:  13; 
Pliny,  iv.  23 ;  Thucyd.  iii.  33,  according  to  the  scholiast.  But  the  in- 
scriptions  are  instructive:  Corpus  inscr.  Gr.  2261,  2262;  Ross,  fasc.  ii. 
189,  190;  Guerin,  85,  86,  besides  two  effaced.  The  ancient  city  was  at 
the  present  port ;  its  acropolis,  part  cyclopean  and  part  hellenic,  still  ex- 
ists. The  principal  legend  of  the  Greek  town  regarded  a  temple  built  by 
Orestes  to  the  Scythian  Artemis  (inscr  190,  Ross) :  this  was  probably  on 
the  site  of  the  monastery  built  by  Christodoulos  in  the  eleventh  century. 
The  island  contains  many  ancient  ruins,  some  from  a  very  remote  time 
(Guerin,  9-15,  85-93;  Ross,  138).  It  appears  to  have  formerly  been  better 
wooded  and  watered  than  now.  The  Greek  population  is  estimated  by 
Guerin  to  have  been  twelve  or  thirteen  thousand.  There  were,  besides, 
several  villages,  whose  population  he  reckons  at  three  or  four  thousand. 


THE  APOSTLES  IN  ASIA.  295 

This  was  probably  the  ground  of  the  choice  which 
afterwards  gave  to  Patmos  such  celebrity  in  Christian 
annals,  —  whether  the  apostle  was  compelled  to  with- 
draw thither  to  escape  some  local  persecution  at  Ephe- 
sus ;  ^  or  whether,  returning  from  a  visit  to  Rome,^  he 
prepared  the  message,  which  he  wished  to  send  in  ad- 
vance into  Asia,  in  one  of  the  lodging-houses  which 
must  have  lined  the  port;^  or  whether,  taking  (as  it 
were)  a  step  back,  in  order  to  strike  a  harder  blow,  and 
judging  that  Ephesus  could  not  be  well  made  the  scene 
of  the  vision,  he  chose  an  island  in  the  Archipelago, 
about  a  day's  sail  distant,  connected  with  the  city  by 

1  Rev.  i.  9  (comp.  vi.  9;  xx.  4:  see  p.  281,  282,  ante;  322,  323,po50. 
The  idea  of  an  exile,  properly  so-called  (Tert.  Prcescr.  36),  must  be  set 
aside.  The  islands  which  served  as  places  of  legal  banishment  were,  as 
we  know,  Gyaros,  Pandataria  Pontia,  and  Planasia;  Patmos  is  not  among 
them.  They  were  selected  because  they  had  neither  harbour  nor  town ; 
while  Patmos  has  excellent  anchorage  (Guerin,  90-94),  and  had  a  con- 
siderable town.  Gyaros,  for  example,  is  nothing  like  Patmos.  The 
church  tradition  that  John  was  exiled  to  Patmos  under  Domitian  is  an 
anachronism.  There  is,  further,  no  question  of  solitude,  the  island  being 
fairly  populous. 

^  The  entrance  to  the  harbour  of  Patmos  is  easy  to  those  coming  from 
Rome,  and  hard  to  those  from  Ephesus.  I  tried  it  myself;  and,  after  a 
day  of  effort,  our  boat  had  to  abandon  the  attempt  to  run  the  channel. 

^  The  "grotto"  is  an  invention  of  the  Middle  Age.  It  is  scarcely 
necessary  to  remark  that  the  passage  which  speaks  of  Patmos  (i.  0,  10) 
does  not  imply  that  the  book  was  written  there:  the  aorist,  f-yfvofXTjv, 
would  rather  convey  the  contrary.  Furthermore,  the  distrust  as  to  the 
Apocalypse  long  felt  in  the  Greek  Church  was  such  that  Prochorus,  in 
the  fourth  century,  recounting  in  detail  the  stay  of  John  at  Patmos,  says 
not  a  word  of  that  book,  and  brings  John  thither  only  to  write  his  gos- 
pel; see  Guerin's  analysis  of  the  Patmos  MS.  (l.  c.  27,  34,  39,  44),  which 
seems  most  in  conformity  with  the  primitive  text  (compare  eds.  of  M. 
Neander,  following  Luther's  Catechesis  parva,  Basel,  1567,  526-663;  Gry- 
naeus,  Monum.  PP.  orthod.  i.  85;  Birch,  Auct.  Cod.  Apocr.  N.  T.,  262- 
307,  and  the  Latin  translation  in  Bibl.  Max.  Pair.  ii.  46).  Before  Saint 
Christodoulos,  the  island  seems  not  to  have  been  the  object  of  special 
veneration. 


296  ANTICHRIST, 

daily  navigation ;  ^  or  whether  he  kept  a  remembrance 
of  his  last  landing-place  on  his  voyage,  so  full  of  deep 
emotion,  when  he  returned  from  Rome  in  64 ;  or 
whether,  finally,  it  was  a  mere  accidental  detention  of 
a  few  days  at  that  port.  This  could  not,  at  all  events, 
have  been  his  first  journey  to  Ephesus ;  for  his  relations 
with  the  churches  of  Asia  imply  that  he  must  previ- 
ously have  lived  in  this  region.  The  navigation  of  the 
Archipelago  is  full  of  risks,  of  which  an  ocean  passage 
gives  no  idea ;  for  in  the  great  sea  there  are  prevailing 
constant  winds  which  you  may  take  advantage  of,  even 
if  they  are  contrary,  while  here  it  may  be  either  dead 
calm  or  a  stiff  breeze  when  you  are  making  a  narrow 
channel ;  so  that  you  are  by  no  means  master  of  your 
course,  but  must  land  where  you  can,  not  where  you 
would. 

Men  of  so  warm  temper  as  these  harsh  and  fanati- 
cal descendants  of  the  old  Israelitish  prophets  took 
their  imagination  with  them  wherever  they  went ;  and 
this  imagination  was  so  strictly  bound  up  within  the 
circle  of  ancient  Hebrew  poetry  that  the  nature  about 
them  was  to  them  as  if  it  were  not.  Patmos  is  like  all 
the  islands  of  that  archipelago,  —  an  azure  sea,  trans- 
parent air,  bright  sky,  rocks  with  irregular  peaks, 
barely  covered  at  times  with  a  down  of  verdure.  The 
outlook  is  naked  and  barren ;  but  the  forms  and  colours 
of  the  cliffs,  the  bright  blue  of  the  sea  with  its  lines  of 
beautiful  white  birds,  relieved  against  the  ruddy  tints 
of  the  rocks,  are  exquisite.  These  hundreds  of  isles 
and  islets,  of  the  most  varied  forms,  which  emerge  like 
pyramids  or  fioat  like  shields  upon  the  water,  dancing 

^  It  is  at  this  day  a  six  hours'  sail  from  Scala  Nova  to  Patmos,  the 
means  of  passage  being  about  the  same  as  in  ancieut  days. 


THE  APOSTLES  IN  ASIA.  297 

as  it  were  in  an  eternal  round  about  the  horizon,  seem 
the  fairy  realm  of  sea-gods  and  ocean-nymphs,  who 
lead  their  brilliant  lives  of  love,  youth,  and  melan- 
choly in  grottos  of  grayish  green,  on  shores  devoid  of 
mystery,  by  turns  gracious  and  terrible,  of  alternate 
brightness  and  gloom.  Calypso,  the  Sirens,  Triton  and 
Nereid,  the  perilous  fascination  of  the  sea,  its  caress 
at  once  voluptuous  and  deceitful,  —  all  those  fine  ap- 
peals to  sense,  which  have  their  inimitable  expression 
in  the  Odyssey,  were  as  nothing  to  the  sombre  vision- 
ary. Two  or  three  single  points,  —  a  certain  haunting 
presence  hinted  in  the  words  "  there  was  no  more  sea  " 
in  the  vision  of  a  new  creation ;  ^  the  striking  image 
of  a  fiery  mountain  cast  upon  the  sea  ^  turning  a  third 
part  of  its  waves  to  blood  (an  image  apparently  taken 
from  the  volcanic  island  Thera,  then  in  active  erup- 
tion),^ these  alone  give  a  touch  of  local  colour.*  Out 
of  a  little  island,  suited  to  be  the  background  of  some 
sylvan  idyll  of  Daphnis  and  Chloe,  or  for  scenes  of 
shepherd  life  like  those  of  Theocritus  and  Moschus,  this 
writer  has  constructed  a  black  volcano  filled  with  ashes 
and  flame.  And  yet,  more  than  once,  he  must  have 
felt  upon  these  waves  the  calm  silence  of  night,  when 
is  heard  only  the  note  of  the  kingfisher  or  the  heavy 
puffing  of  the  dolphin.  For  whole  days  Mount  Mycale 
was  in  full  view,  yet  he  never  once  thought  of  the 
Greek  victory  over  the  Persians,^  the  finest  ever  won 

^  Rev.  xxi.  1.  2  Ihid.  viii.  8. 

'  Sen.  Q.  N.  ii.  26;  vi.  21.  Even  when  sleeping  it  has  the  look  of  an 
island  half-burnt  (Stanley,  Sermons,  p.  230,  n.  8). 

*  Mount  Kynops,  in  Patmos,  shows  some  slight  volcanic  features 
(Guerin). 

fi  The  view  of  the  mainland  from  Patmos  is  mostly  intercepted  by  a 
chain  of  islands.  But  Mount  Mycale,  Miletus,  and  Priene  are  plainly 
seen. 


298  ANTICHRIST, 

after  Marathon  and  Thermopylae.  At  this  central 
point  of  so  many  mighty  works  of  Grecian  genius,  a 
few  leagues  from  Samos,  Cos,  Miletus,  and  Ephesus,  he 
thought  of  something  else  than  the  intellect  of  Pythag- 
oras, Hippocrates,  Thales,  or  Heraclitus ;  to  him  the 
glorious  memories  of  Greece  had  no  existence.  The 
poem  of  Patmos  should  have  been  some  Hero  and 
Leander,  or  a  pastoral  of  Longus,  telling  the  sports  of 
pretty  children  on  the  threshold  of  love.  But  the 
sombre  enthusiast,  thrown  by  chance  upon  this  Ionian 
shore,  could  not  escape  his  biblical  traditions.  Nature 
was  to  him  the  living  chariot  of  Ezekiel,  the  monstrous 
cherub,  the  uncouth  bull  of  Nineveh,  a  distorted  zool- 
ogy, setting  the  painter's  or  sculptor's  art  at  defiance. 
The  strange  defect  of  vision  in  orientals,  which  distorts 
the  images  of  things  and  causes  all  pictured  represen- 
tations that  come  from  their  hands  to  seem  fantastic 
and  devoid  of  life,  was  at  its  extreme  in  him.  His 
inward  malady  discoloured  everything.  He  saw  with 
the  eyes  of  Ezekiel  or  of  the  writer  of  Daniel ;  or  rather, 
he  saw  only  himself,  his  own  passion,  hope,  or  wrath. 
A  vague  and  arid  mythology,  already  cabbalist  or 
gnostic,  founded  on  the  transforming  of  abstract  ideas 
into  divine  hi/postases,  deprived  him  of  an  artist's  truth 
or  skill.  No  one  was  ever  more  estranged  from  sur- 
rounding influences ;  more  completely  blind  and  deaf 
to  the  outward  world,  for  whose  sights  and  harmo- 
nies he  substituted  the  contradictory  chimera  of  •^a  new 
heaven  and  a  new  earth." 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE   APOCALYPSE.  —  A.  D.  69. 

After  the  message  to  the  seven  churches,  the  visionary 
panorama  is  unrolled.  A  door  is  opened  into  heaven ; 
the  Seer  is  caught  up  in  spirit,  and  through  this  open- 
ing his  eyesight  pierces  to  the  very  depth  of  the  celes- 
tial Court.  The  entire  heaven  of  the  Jewish  Kabbala 
is  revealed  to  him.  Here  stands  one  solitary  throne, 
and  on  this  throne,  encircled  by  a  rainbow,  sits  God 
himself,  like  a  colossal  ruby  darting  its  rays  of  flame.^ 
About  the  throne  are  twenty-four  lower  seats,  on  which 
are  seated  twenty-four  old  men,  clad  in  white,  with  gold 
crowns  upon  their  heads.  These  form  a  select  Senate, 
representing  humanity,  and  making  the  permanent  court 
of  the  Eternal.^  In  front  burn  seven  lamps,  which  are 
the  seven  spirits  of  God  —  the  seven  gifts  of  Divine 
wisdom.^  About  are  four  "  beasts,"  or  living  creatures 
{Icoa  '^things  of  life")  with  features  borrowed  from 
the  "  cherubs  "  of  Ezekiel  *  and  the  "  seraphs  "  of  Isaiah.*^ 
The  first  has  the  form  of  a  lion,  the  second  of  a  calf, 
the  third  the  countenance  of  a  man,  the  fourth  the 
form  of  an  eagle  with  wings  outspread.     These  four 

1  All  the  features  of  this  description  are  taken  from  Ezekiel  i.  and  x. 
Comp.  Dan.  vii.  9,  10. 

2  The  number  24  is  taken  from  the  classes  of  priests  who  served  in 
the  sanctuary.  1  Chron.  xxv. ;  Isa.  xxiv.  23 ;  Ps.  Ixxxix.  8 ;  Tanhuma, 
§§  Shemini  and  Kedoshim. 

*  Isa.  xi.  2.  *  Ezek.  i.  6  jg^.  vi. 


300  ANTICHRIST. 

monsters  symbolise  in  Ezekiel  the  attributes  of  Divinity, 
—  "  wisdom,  power,  knowledge,  and  creation."  They 
have  six  wings,  and  are  covered  with  eyes  all  over.-^ 
Angels  —  creatures  inferior  to  the  vast  superhuman 
personifications  just  spoken  of,^  a  sort  of  winged  attend- 
ants —  surround  the  throne  in  multitudes  without  num- 
ber,^ and  from  the  throne  proceed  perpetual  thunderings. 
On  the  level  before  the  throne  spreads  a  vast  sheet  of 
azure  like  a  sea  of  crystal,  —  the  firmament ;  *  and  a 
sort  of  divine  liturgy  goes  on  forever.  For  the  four 
living  creatures,  organs  of  universal  life,  or  Nature, 
never  sleep,  but  sing  night  and  day  the  anthem  :  "  Holy, 
holy,  holy  is  the  Lord  God  Almighty,  who  was  and  is 
and  shall  be."  ^  The  twenty-four  elders,  representing 
Humanity,  unite  in  the  song,  prostrating  themselves  and 
casting  their  crowns  at  the  foot  of  the  Creator's  throne. 
Christ  has  not  yet  appeared  in  this  celestial  court, 
and  the  Seer  will  now  have  us  witness  the  pomp  of  his 
investiture.^  On  the  right  of  Him  who  sits  upon  the 
throne  is  a  book  (in  the  form  of  a  roll),  written  on 
both  sides,^  sealed  with  seven  seals.  It  is  the  book 
of  divine  secrets,  the  great  revelation.  No  one  in 
heaven  or  on  earth  is  found  worthy  to  open  it,  or  even 
to  look  upon  it.  Then  John  begins  to  weep  :  shall  the 
Future,  then,  the  Christian's  only  consolation,  be  closed 
to  him  ?  But  he  is  encouraged  by  one  of  the  elders  ;  one 
is  soon  found  who  alone  may  open  the  book :  and  with- 
out difficulty  we  discover  that  it  is  Jesus.  In  the  very 
centre  of  the  vast  heavenly  assembly,  at  the  foot  of  the 

1  Ezek.  i.  18 ;  x.  12.  «  Comp.  Heb.  i.  4-8,  14. 

8  Rev.  V.  11;  vii.  11;  Dan.  vii.  10;  Ps.  Ixviii.  18. 
4  Ex.  xxiv.  10 ;  Ezek.  i.  22-25.  ^  Isa.  vi.  3. 

*  Rev.  chap.  v.  ^  Ezek.  ii.  10. 


THE  APOCALYPSE.  301 

throne,  amid  the  living  creatures  and  the  elders,  upon 
the  crystal  floor,  appears  a  Lamb  that  has  been  slain. 
This  was  the  favourite  image  under  which  Christian 
fancy  loved  to  figure  Jesus,  —  a  slain  lamb,  made  the 
passover  offering,  and  always  with  God.^  He  has  seven 
horns  ^  and  seven  eyes,  symbols  of  the  seven  spirits  of 
God,  whose  fulness  he  has  received,  which  through  him 
will  prevail  over  all  the  earth.  The  Lamb  rises,  ad- 
vances to  the  throne,  and  takes  the  book.  A  thrill  of 
profound  emotion  then  fills  the  sky  :  the  four  living 
creatures  and  the  twenty-four  elders  fall  on  their  knees 
before  the  Lamb,  holding  in  their  hands  harps  and 
golden  bowls  {(fudXas)  full  of  incense,  the  prayers  of 
the  saints ;  ^  while  they  sing  a  new  song :  "  Thou  art 
worthy  to  take  the  book  and  open  the  seals ;  for  thou 
hast  been  slain  and  with  thy  blood  hast  won  to  God  a 
company  of  those  chosen  from  every  tribe,  language, 
people,  and  race  ;  and  hast  made  them  *  a  kingdom  of 
priests,  and  they  shall  reign  upon  the  earth."  The 
myriads  of  angels  join  in  this  song,  ascribing  to  the 
Lamb  the  seven  great  attributes,  —  power,  riches,  wis- 
dom, strength,  honour,  glory,  and  blessing.^  Every 
creature  in  heaven,  on  the  earth,  under  the  earth,  or  in 
the  sea,  joins  in  the  heavenly  rite,  crying,  "  To  Him 
who  sits  upon  the  throne  and  to  the  Lamb  be  blessing, 
honour,  glory,  and  power  for  evermore."  The  four 
living  creatures,  representing  Nature,  with  their  deep 
voice  respond.  Amen  ;  the  elders  fall  and  worship. 
Jesus  is  here  introduced  into  the  highest  rank  of  the 

1  John  i.  29,  36;  1  Pet.  i.  19  ;  Acts  viii.  32;  Jerem.  xi.  19  ;  Isa.  liii.  7. 

2  Symbols  of  power  in  old  Hebrew  poetry:  see  Dan.  vii.  20. 

8  Rev.  viii.  3,  4 ;  Ps.  cxli.  2;  Ezek.  viii.  11 ;  Tob.  xii.  12 ;  Luke  i.  10. 
*  So  the  Sinai  tic  and  Alexandrian ;  not  "  us,"  which  is  a  later  reading. 
«  See  Rev.  vii.  12. 


302  ANTICHRIST, 

celestial  hierarchy.  Not  only  the  angels/  but  the 
twenty-four  elders  and  the  living  creatures,  which  are 
above  the  angels,  bow  down  before  him.  He  has 
ascended  the  steps  of  the  throne,  and  has  taken  the 
book  placed  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  which  no  one 
could  so  much  as  look  at.  He  is  about  to  open  the 
seven  seals :  the  grand  drama  begins.^ 

It  opens  with  a  scene  of  splendour.  By  an  historical 
conception  singularly  just,  the  writer  represents  the 
messianic  movement  as  beginning  at  the  time  when 
Kome  extends  her  dominion  over  Judaea.^  As  the  first 
seal  is  opened,  a  w^hite  horse  springs  forward,  —  emblem 
of  victory  and  triumph ;  *  the  rider  carries  in  his  hand 
a  bow,  his  head  is  circled  with  a  crown,  and  he  goes 
forth,  "conquering  and  to  conquer."  This  is  the 
Roman  Empire,  which,  down  to  the  time  of  the  Seer, 
nothing  has  been  able  to  withstand.  But  this  tri- 
umphal prologue  is  of  short  duration :  the  forerunners 
of  the  Messiah's  glorious  appearing  must  be  disasters 
as  yet  unheard-of  ;  and  the  celestial  tragedy  unfolds 
with  the  most  appalling  images.^  We  are  at  what  is 
called  "the  beginning  of  sorrows"^  in  the  messianic 
story.  From  this  time  on,  each  seal  that  opens  will 
bring  upon  mankind  some  dreadful  woe. 

At  the  opening  of  the  second  seal  springs  forth  a 
red  horse.     To  the  rider  the  power  is  given  to  abolish 

»  Cf.  p.  179,  ante,  2  chap.  vi. 

8  Comp.  "Assumption  of  Moses"  in  Hilgenfeld:  iV.  T.  extra  can.  i. 
113,  114. 

4  See  Iliad,  x.  437 ;  Plut.  Camillus,  7 ;  Virg.  JEn.  iii.  538,  with  the 
comment  of  Servius. 

5  Comp.  Zech.  i.  7-17 j  vi.  1-8;  Jer.  xxi.  9;  xxxii.  36;  4  Esdr.  v.  6,  7; 
vi.  22,  23;  ix.  3. 

8  Matt.  xxiv.  8;  Mark  xiii.  9. 


THE  APOCALYPSE.  303 

peace  from  the  earth,  and  cause  men  to  slaughter  one 
another;  and  in  his  hand  is  placed  a  great  sword. 
This  is  War.  Since  the  uprising  in  Judaea,  and  above 
all  since  the  revolt  of  Yindex,  the  world  has  been  in 
truth  only  a  field  of  blood,  and  the  man  of  peace  has 
not  known  whither  he  might  flee. 

At  the  opening  of  the  third  seal,  a  black  horse 
bounds  forth,  with  a  rider  holding  a  pair  of  scales. 
And  from  the  midst  of  the  living  creatures  a  voice  is 
heard  prescribing  the  allowance  to  wretched  mortals, 
and  saying  to  the  rider,  "  A  measure  of  wheat  for  a 
penny  ^  and  three  measures  of  barley  for  a  penny  ;  but 
touch  neither  oil  nor  wine."  ^  This  is  Famine.^  Not  to 
speak  of  the  great  destitution  under  Claudius,  there 
was  extreme  dearth  in  the  year  68.* 

At  the  opening  of  the  fourth  seal,  springs  forth  a 
horse  of  pale  yellow,^  whose  rider  s  name  is  Death. 
Hell  {Hades)  follows  him ;  and  power  is  given  him  to 
destroy  a  fourth  part  of  the  earth  with  sword,  famine, 
pestilence,  and  the  ravage  of  wild  beasts. 

These  are  the  great  scourges®  which  announce  the 
near  coming  of  the  Messiah.  In  strict  justice,  the  di- 
vine wrath  should  blaze  out  at  once  against  the  guilty 
world.  And,  in  truth,  at  the  opening  of  the  fifth  scene, 
the  Seer  beholds  a  touching  spectacle.  He  sees  beneath 
the  altar  the  souls  of  those  slaughtered  for  their  faith, 
and  for  the  testimony  they  have  witnessed  for  Christ, 

1  A  "  measure  "  (xoii/i^,  3  half -pints)  was  a  day's  ration  ;  a  **  penny  " 
{denarius,  20  cents)  was  a  day's  wages  (Matt.  xx.  2;  Tac.  Ann.  i.  17). 

«  Suet.  Domit.  7.  «  Matt.  xxiv.  7;  Mark  xiii.  7. 

*  See  p.  263. 

8  Properly,  the  colour  of  honey  (II.  xi.  631). 

«  Matt.  xxiv.  6-8;  Mark  xiii.  8,  9 ;  comp.  Ezek.  xiv.  21.  In  the  gos- 
pels, j^stilence  seems  to  hold  the  second  place,  as  in  the  Apocalypse. 


304  ANTICHRIST. 

—  doubtless,  the  victims  of  Nero's  persecution.  These 
saintly  souls  cry  to  God/  and  say  to  him,  "  How  long, 
0  God,  holy  and  true,  wilt  thou  not  do  justice,  and 
exact  the  price  of  our  blood  of  those  who  dwell  on  the 
earth  ?  "  But  the  time  is  not  yet  come ;  the  number 
of  martyrs  which  will  cause  the  divine  wrath  to  over- 
flow is  not  yet  made  up.  To  each  of  the  victims  be- 
neath the  altar  is  given  a  white  robe,  as  pledge  of 
justification  and  coming  triumph ;  and  they  are  bidden 
to  endure  until  their  brethren  and  fellow-servants,  who 
must  be  slain  as  well  as  they,  have  given  testimony  in 
their  turn. 

After  this  noble  interact,  we  find  ourselves  no  longer 
in  the  period  of  preliminary  horrors,  but  amid  the 
events  of  the  Last  Judgment.  At  the  opening  of  the 
sixth  seal,^  the  whole  world  is  shaken  by  an  earth- 
quake.^ The  sky  becomes  black  as  a  sack  of  haircloth ; 
the  moon  takes  the  colour  of  blood ;  stars  fall  from 
heaven  upon  the  earth  like  the  fruit  of  a  fig-tree 
shaken  by  the  wind  ;  the  sky  is  withdrawn  "  as  a 
scroll  when  it  is  rolled  together ;  "  *  mountains  and 
islands  are  cast  from  their  places.  Kings  and  great 
men,  military  chiefs,  the  rich  and  strong,  slaves  and 
free,  hide  themselves  in  caverns  and  among  rocks,  say- 
ing to  the  mountains  and  rocks,  "  Fall  upon  us,  and 

^  Such  imaginations  are  found  also  in  pagan  writers:  compare  with 
**  souls  of  the  slain  "  (Rev.  vi.  9)  '*  souls  of  those  slaughtered  by  him  " 
(Dion  Cass.  Ixiii.  28). 

2  The  entire  description  of  the  final  catastrophe  is  made  up  of  features 
taken  from  Isaiah  ii.  10,  19;  xxxiv.  4;  1.  3 ;  Ixiii.  4;  Ezek.  xxxii.  7,  8; 
Joel  iii.  4;  Hosea  x.  8;  Nahum  i.  6;  Mai.  iii.  2.  The  ancient  prophets 
held  that  the  Divine  judgment,  even  when  exerted  on  a  separate  nation, 
was  attended  by  natural  signs  and  prodigies:  Joel  i.  15;  ii.  1-11.  Comp. 
Matt.  xxiv.  7,  29;  Mark  xiii.  8,  21;  Luke  xxi.  11,  25,  26;  xxiii.  30. 

^  Matt.  xxiv.  7;  Mark  xiii.  8;  Luke  xxi.  1.  *  Isa.  xxxiv.  4. 


THE  APOCALYPSE.  305 

hide  lis  from  the  sight  of  him  who  sits  on  the  throne, 
and  from  the  wrath  of  the  Lamb  1  " 

Now  the  great  execution  is  about  to  be  accom- 
plished.^ The  four  angels  of  the  winds'^  place  them- 
selves at  the  four  corners  of  the  earth ;  they  have  only 
to  let  loose  the  elements  in  their  charge,  when  these, 
bursting  forth  with  their  own  native  fury,  will  over- 
whelm the  world.  To  these  four  all  power  is  given ; 
they  are  already  at  their  posts.  But  the  fundamental 
idea  of  the  composition  is  to  show  the  great  judgment 
incessantly  deferred,  just  when  it  seemed  ready  in- 
stantly to  take  place.  In  the  east  appears  an  angel, 
bearing  in  his  hand  the  seal  of  God,  having,  like  all 
royal  seals,  graven  on  it  the  name  of  him  to  whom  it 
belongs.^  He  calls  to  the  four  angels  of  the  destroying 
winds  to  restrain  for  a  time  the  forces  at  their  disposal, 
until  the  elect  who  are  still  alive  have  been  marked  on 
the  forehead  with  the  stamp  that  will  keep  them  safe 
from  the  scourge,  as  the  blood  of  the  paschal  lamb 
sprinkled  on  the  door-posts  preserved  the  Israelites  in 
Egypt.*  The  angel  then  marks  with  the  divine  seal 
one  hundred  and  forty-four  thousand  persons  belonging 
to  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel.  This  does  not  mean 
that  the  hundred  and  forty-four  thousand  elect  are 
exclusively  Jews.^     "  Israel "  is  here,  doubtless,  the  true 

1  Rev.  chap.  vii.  2  Comp.  Zech.  vi.  5;  Enoch,  xviii. 

^  mn"^,  ^0  Jeliovah.  Comp.  Isa.  xliv.  5;  Rev.  xiv.  1.  All  Semitic  seals 
give  the  owner's  name  preceded  by  ^  ('*  to").  The  custom  was  to  mark, 
or  brand,  slaves  with  their  master's  name  (see  Herodotus,  ii.  113:  2;  Ezek. 
ix.  4). 

4  Ex.  xii.  13. 

5  As  we  might  suppose  from  the  contrast  of  the  "  great  multitude  which 
no  man  could  number "  in  ver.  9.  But  these  are  made  up  of  martyrs 
(comp.  ver.  9, 14),  not  of  pagan  converts.  The  one  hundred  and  forty-four 
thousand  elect  appear  in  chap.  xiv.  as  chosen  for  their  virtue  from  the 

20 


30$  ANTICHRIST. 

spiritual  Israel,  Paul's  "Israel  of  God/'^  the  chosen 
family,  embracing  all  who  have  allied  themselves  with 
the  race  of  Abraham,  by  faith  in  Jesus  and  practice  of 
the  essential  rites.  But  there  is  one  class  of  the 
faithful  already  brought  into  the  abode  of  peace :  those 
who  have  suffered  death  for  Jesus.  These  the  Seer 
figures  as  a  countless  multitude  of  men  of  every  race, 
tribe,  people,  and  tongue,  standing  before  the  throne  ^ 
and  before  the  Lamb,  clothed  in  white,  holding  palm- 
leaves  in  their  hands,  singing  the  glory  of  God  and  the 
Lamb.  One  of  the  elders  explains  to  him  who  these 
are.  "  They  are  men  who  come  from  great  persecu- 
tion,^ and  have  washed  their  robes  in  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb,"  —  that  is,  the  stain  of  martyr-blood.  That  is 
why  they  are  before  God's  throne,  and  adore  him  night 
and  day  in  his  temple ;  and  He  who  is  seated  on  the 
throne  will  dwell  with  them  forever.*  They  shall 
hunger  no  more,  nor  thirst  any  more,  nor  suffer  any 
longer  from  burning  heat.  The  Lamb  will  feed  them, 
and  will  lead  them  to  living  springs,  and  God  himself 
will  wipe  all  tears  from  their  eyes.^ 

whole  earth  (ver.  3).  Also  comp.  v.  9.  The  distinction  of  Jewish  and 
pagan  Christians  did  not  exist  for  this  writer.  Pagans  who  have  not 
first  accepted  the  Jewish  rules  are  the  disciples  of  Balaam,  whom  he  re- 
bukee  in  chaps,  ii.  and  iii.  To  him  every  Christian  belongs  to  Israel,  and 
to  the  spiritual  city,  Jerusalem  (xviii.  4;  xx.  9;  xxi.  2,  12.  Comp,  Matt. 
xix.  28 ;  Jas.  i.  1).  The  gentiles  come  simply,  like  good  strangers,  con- 
quered and  submissive,  to  pay  their  homage  to  God  in  Zion  (xv.  3,  4). 

1  Gal.  vi.  16. 

2  He  does  not  name  the  Ineffable.  Jews  more  or  less  inclined  to  the 
Cabbala  speak  of  God  under  such  expressions  as  "name,"  "throne,'^ 
"heaven,"  etc. 

8  eXtA//"fa)r  fifyoKrjs,  a  common  expression  for  the  Neronian  persecution. 
See  notes  on  pp.  147  and  182. 

*  Lev.  xxvi.  11;  Isa.  iv.  5,  6:  Ezek.  xxxvii.  27;  Rev.  xxi.  3. 
^  Isa.  XXV.  8;  xlix.  10. 


THE  APOCALYPSE.  307 

The  seventh  seal  opens.^  Here  we  await  the  grand 
spectacle  of  the  last  scene  of  time.^  But,  in  the  vision 
as  in  fact,  the  final  catastrophe  still  retreats ;  we  think 
it  already  here,  and  it  is  naught.  Instead  of  the 
closing  scene  which  should  follow  the  breaking  of  the 
seventh  seal,  '^  there  is  silence  in  heaven  the  space  of 
about  half  an  hour,"  showing  that  the  first  act  of  the 
mystery  is  finished,  and  another  is  about  to  begin.^ 
After  this  sacramental  silence  the  seven  archangels  who 
stand  before  the  throne  *  (not  spoken  of  till  now)  enter 
upon  the  scene.  Seven  trumpets  are  given  them,  each 
to  announce  its  own  event.^  The  sombre  imagination 
of  John  is  not  yet  satisfied ;  his  wrath  against  the 
pagan  world  must  find  its  fit  penalties  in  the  plagues 
of  Egypt.  Certain  natural  phenomena  happening  about 
the  year  68,  and  deeply  impressing  the  popular  imagi- 
nation, seemed  to  justify  him  in  recalling  those  old 
horrors. 

Before  the  sounding  of  the  seven  trumpets  begins, 
there  is  a  very  striking  scene  in  dumb  show.  An 
angel  advances  to  the  golden  altar  that  is  before  the 

^  Rev.  chap.  viii. 

2  Like  the  suspense  after  opening  the  fifth  and  sixth  seals,  and  at  the 
sound  of  the  seventh  trumpet.     See  x.  7,  and  p.  312,  post. 

8  We  notice  the  same  thing  in  the  Song  of  Solomon,  where  the  five 
acts  are  not  a  regular  sequence,  but  with  each  its  own  action  begins  and 
ends.  In  general,  Hebrew  literature  knows  nothing  of  the  unities  of 
composition. 

4  Dan.  X.  13  ;  Tob.  xii.  15;  Luke  i.  19 ;  1  Thess.  iv.  16. 

^  The  idea  of  a  succession  of  trumpets  announcing  the  end  of  all 
things  is  found  in  "the  last  trump"  of  1  Cor.  xv.  52,  assuming  that  the 
others  have  preceded  it.  The  expression  "  a  third  trumpet"  in  4  Esdr. 
V.  4,  is,  however,  an  error  (see  Hilgenfeld).  "  The  day  of  Jehovah  "  with 
the  prophets  is  also  announced  by  trumpets  (Joel  ii.  1,  15).  The  first 
hint  of  this  imacfe  is  given  in  the  trumpets  which  proclaimed  the  Israelite 
festivals  (4  Esdr.  vi.  23). 


3o8  ANTICHRIST, 

throne,  bearing  in  his  hand  a  golden  censer.  Masses 
of  incense  {OvfjudiJiaTa  woXXd)  are  heaped  upon  the  coals 
of  the  altar,  and  a  cloud  of  smoke  rises  before  the 
Eternal  One.  Then  the  angel  fills  his  censer  with 
coals  from  the  altar,  and  casts  them  upon  the  earth,-^ 
where,  as  they  strike  the  ground,  they  produce  noise 
of  thunder,  lightnings,  voices,  and  earthquakes,  —  the 
incense,  as  we  are  told,  being  the  prayers  of  the  saints. 
The  sighs  of  these  holy  persons  rising  silently  before 
God,  and  calling  for  the  downfall  of  the  pagan  empire, 
become  burning  coals,  which  rack  and  rend  the  guilty 
world,  and  utterly  destroy  it  before  it  can  suspect 
whence  the  destruction  comes.  Then  the  seven  angels  • 
prepare  to  sound  their  trumpets. 

As  the  first  trumpet  peals  forth,  hail  mingled  with 
fire  and  blood  is  cast  upon  the  earth ;  and  a  third  part  ^ 
of  the  trees  and  all  green  grass  are  consumed  with  fire. 
In  the  years  63,  68,  and  69,  there  were  terrifying  tem- 
pests, in  which  men  saw  something  supernatural.^ 

At  the  sound  of  the  second  trumpet,  a  great  moun- 
tain of  fire  is  cast  upon  the  sea ;  a  third  of  the  waters 
are  changed  to  blood,  a  third  of  the  fishes  perish,  and  a 
third  of  the  ships  are  destroyed.  Here  is  an  allusion 
to  the  volcanic  island  Thera,^  which  the  Seer  of  Patmos 
had  almost  in  plain  view  in  the  horizon,  as  it  were  a 
volcano  plunged  in  the  deep.  In  the  middle  of  it ^  a  new 
island  had  appeared  in  46  or  47.  In  periods  of  erup- 
tion the  surface  of  the  surrounding  sea  seems  on  fire.^ 

1  As  in  Ezek.  x.  2.  2  gee  Zech.  xiii.  9. 

8  Tac.  Ann.  xv.  47;  Hist.  i.  3,  18;  Corap.  Ex.  xii.  24;  Isa.  xxviii.  2. 
*  See  pp.  269,  297.     Comp.  Ex.  vii.  17;  Jer.  li.  25;  Enoch,  xvii.  13. 
^  An  earthquake  in  237  b.  c.  had  engulfed  a  portion  of  the  island, 
leaving  the  remainder  in  the  form  of  a  horseshoe.  —  Ed. 

«  Pliny  ii.  87;  iv.  12;  Sen.   Q.  N.   ii.  26;  vi.  21;  Dion  Cass.   Ix.  29; 


THE  APOCALYPSE.  309 

At  the  sound  of  the  third  trumpet,  a  great  star  falls 
from  heaven,  burning  like  a  torch,  upon  a  third  part  of 
the  rivers  and  springs.  Its  name  is  Wormwood,  and  a 
third  of  the  waters  are  turned  to  wormwood  (that  is, 
became  poisonous  and  bitter  ^),  and  many  men  die  be- 
cause of  it.^  Here  we  seem  to  find  an  allusion  to  a 
meteoric  stone,  the  fall  of  which  was  associated  with 
some  infection  that  may  have  affected  the  quality  of 
water  in  some  storage-basin.  We  must  remember  that 
the  Seer  looks  at  nature  through  the  medium  of  the 
childish  tales  he  has  heard  from  the  common  people  of 
Asia,  the  most  credulous  region  in  the  world.  Phlegon 
of  Tralles,  half  a  century  later,  may  be  said  to  have 
passed  his  life  in  compiling  just  such  tales.  In  Tacitus 
we  meet  them  on  every  page. 

At  the  sound  of  the  fourth  trumpet,  a  third  of  the 
sun,  of  the  moon,  and  of  the  stars  are  blotted  out,  and 
a  third  of  the  world's  light  is  darkened.^  This  may 
refer  to  the  terrifying  eclipses  of  these  years,"*  or  to  the 
frightful  tempest  of  January  10,  69.^  But  all  these 
terrors  so  far  are  as  nothing.  An  eagle  flies  through 
the  midst  of  the  sky,  uttering  three  cries  of  woe !  and 
predicts  calamities  unspeakable  to  follow  the  trumpets 
that  are  yet  to  sound. 

At  the  voice  of  the  fifth  trumpet,  a  star  (that  is,  an 
angel  ^)  falls  from  heaven,  to  whom  is  given  the  key  of 

Aur.  Victor,  De  Cobs.^  Claud.  14;  Philostr.,  Apoll.  iv.  34:  4;  Orosius,  vii. 
6;  Cedrenus,  i.  197;  Ross,  Reisen,  etc.,  i.  90.  Comp.  Comptes  rendus  de 
VAcad.  des  Sciences,  19  Feb.  1866,  392  et  seq. 

1  Ex.  XV.  23-26. 

2  See  Isa.  xiv.  12;  Dan.  viii.  10;  Carm.  Sibyll.  v.  157, 158. 
8  Ex.  vi.  25;  x.  21,  22;  Joel  iii.  4;  Amos  viii.  9. 

*  See  p.  262,  ante. 

6  Tac.  Hist.  i.  18;  Plut.  Galha,  23. 

®  See  Enoch  xviii.  13  ;  xxi.  3 ;  Ixxxvi.  1 ;  xc.  21. 


310  ANTICHRIST. 

the  bottomless  pit.^  This  he  opens,  and  there  comes 
forth  smoke  as  of  a  great  furnace  \  ^  the  sun  and  the 
air  are  darkened.  From  this  smoke  locusts  are  pro- 
duced, which  cover  the  earth  like  troops  of  horsemen.^ 
These  locusts,  led  by  their  king,  the  angel  of  the  Pit 
(called  in  Hebrew  Abaddon,  "destroyer,"  in  Greek, 
ApoUyon),  torment  men  for  five  months  —  an  entire 
summer.  It  is  possible  that  there  was  an  excessive 
visitation  of  locusts  in  some  province  about  this  time  ;  * 
in  any  case,  the  imitation  of  the  plagues  of  Egypt  is 
manifest.^  The  bottomless  pit  is  perhaps  the  Solfatara 
near  Puteoli  (which  was  called  Vulcan  s  Forum), ^  or 
the  old  crater  of  la  Sonima^  conceived  as  openings- 
out  from  the  infernal  world.  I  have  said  ^  that  the 
disturbances  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Naples  were 
just  then  very  violent.  The  writer  of  the  Apocalypse 
—  who,  I  may  assume,  had  been  in  Rome  and  hence 
at  Puteoli  —  may  well  have  been  witness  to  such 
phenomena.  He  associates  the  clouds  of  locusts  with 
the  volcanic  exhalations,  —  for,  since  their  origin  was 
wholly  unknown,  the  popular  mind  was  led  to  regard 

1  The  abode,  not  of  the  dead  (Hades'),  but  of  devils:  see  Luke  viii.  31 ; 
Rev.  xi.  7;  xvii.  8;  xx.  1,  3. 

2  Rev.  ix.  2 ;  cf.  Gen.  xix.  28. 

^  The  stranf^e  description  of  these. locusts,  allowing  for  the  exaggera- 
tions of  oriental  style,  has  nothing  that  may  not  apply  to  the  common  locust 
(see  Niebuhr,  Descr.  of  Arabia,  p.  153 ;  Joel  ii.  4-9).  At  Naples  these 
creatures  are  still  called  cavaletti,  and  would  be  very  destructive  but  for 
the  care  taken  to  destroy  their  eggs.     See  Pliny,  xi.  29;  Livy,  xxx.  2. 

*  Features  like  those  in  ix.  10  —  tails  with  stings,  like  scorpions  — 
might  suggest  an  invasion  of  Parthian  cavalry ;  but  this  is  the  topic  of 
the  sixth  trumpet,  and  it  is  not  the  writer's  way  to  bring  different  sym- 
bols of  the  same  thing  within  the  compass  of  the  same  cycle  of  seven. 

6  Ex.  X.  12-15;  Joel  ii.;  Wisd.  xvi.  9. 

6  Strabo,  v.  4  :  6. 

T  Beule,  Le  drame  du  Vesuve,  62,  63.  «  Pages  264-268. 


THE  APOCALYPSE,  311 

them  as  a  progeny  of  hell.^  At  this  day  a  like  phe- 
nomenon takes  place  at  Solfatara.  After  a  heavy  rain, 
the  pools  of  water  which  remain  in  hot  places  hatch 
out  very  rapidly  vast  numbers  of  locusts  and  frogs.^ 
That  what  appeared  to  be  spontaneous  generation  was 
regarded  by  the  vulgar  as  an  emanation  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Pit  itself,  was  the  more  natural,  since  the 
eruptions,  being  generally  followed  by  abundant  rains, 
covering  the  country  with  pools,  must  seem  the  direct 
cause  of  the  clouds  of  insects  that  issue  from  these 
pools. 

The  sound  of  the  sixth  trumpet  introduces  another 
scourge :  this  is  a  Parthian  invasion,  which  was  every- 
where thought  to  be  impending.^  A  voice  goes  out 
from  the  four  horns  of  the  altar  which  is  before  God, 
commanding  to  let  loose  four  angels  held  in  chains 
along  the  Euphrates.*  These  four  angels,  —  perhaps 
the  Assyrians,  Babylonians,  Medes,  and  Persians,^  — 
who  were  ready  at  the  hour,  day,  month,  and  year,  put 
themselves  at  the  head  of  a  fearful  force  of  cavalry,  of 
two  hundred  million  men.  The  description  of  men  and 
horses  is  purely  fanciful.  The  horses,  which  kill  by  a 
sting  in  the  tail,  "•  like  scorpions,"  probably  signify  the 
Parthian  cavalry,  who  shoot  their  arrows  backward 
when  in  flight.  A  third  of  the  human  race  is  exter- 
minated. Those,  however,  who  survive  do  not  repent, 
but   still  worship  demons,   idols   of    gold   and    silver, 

1  *'  They  are  five  months  hidden,"  Pliny,  H.  N.  ix.  30.  This  idea 
still  exists.     (Edraan,  Samml.  aus  der  Naturkunde,  ii.  147. 

2  M.  S.  de  Luca.    Locusts  are  very  numerous  in  the  crater  of  Solfatara. 
8  See  above,  p.  257;  Tac.  Hist.  iv.  51;  Jos.  Wars,  vi.  6:  2. 

*  Comp.  Virgil,  Georg.  i.  509. 

5  Writers  of  apocalypses  retain  the  old  biblical  geography,  even  when 
completely  obsolete.  See  Comraodian,  Instr.  ii.  1 :  15 ;  Carmen,  ver.  884 
and  900  ;  Epiph.  11.  34  ;  Dan.  vii.  6;  Enoch  Ivi.  5-8. 


312  ANTICHRIST, 

which  can  neither  see,  hear,  nor  walk.  They  persist 
in  their  murderings,  their  sorceries,  fornications,  and 
robberies. 

Here,  again,  we  expect  to  hear  the  tones  of  the  sev- 
enth trumpet ;  but,  as  before  the  seals  were  opened,  the 
Seer  appears  to  hesitate,  or,  rather,  to  take  such  a  posi- 
tion as  to  keep  the  reader  in  suspense :  at  the  critical 
moment  he  suddenly  stops.  The  dread  secret  cannot 
even  yet  be  told  in  full.  A  colossal  angel,  his  head 
encircled  by  a  rainbow,  with  one  foot  on  the  land  and 
the  other  on  the  sea,  whose  voice  is  echoed  in  seven 
thunders  (perhaps  the  thunders  of  the  seven  heavens  ^), 
speaks  mysterious  words,  which  a  voice  from  heaven 
forbids  John  to  write.  The  gigantic  angel  then  lifts 
his  hand  to  heaven,  and  swears  by  the  Eternal  that 
there  shall  be  no  more  delay ;  ^  that  at  the  sound  of  the 
seventh  trumpet  the  mystery  of  God  announced  by  the 
prophets  —  who  (as  Isaiah  and  Joel)  have  proclaimed 
the  day  of  the  Lord  —  shall  be  accomplished. 

The  apocalyptic  drama,  then,  is  about  to  close.  But, 
to  prolong  his  book,  the  writer  assumes  a  new  prophetic 
mission.  Repeating  a  powerful  image  once  employed 
by  Ezekiel,^  John  receives  from  the  mighty  angel  a 
book  of  fate,  and  devours  it ;  and  a  voice  says  to  him, 
"  Thou  must  prophesy  again  before  many  peoples,  na- 
tions, tongues,  and  kings."  The  scheme  of  the  vision, 
which  was  about  to  close  w^ith  the  seventh  trumpet, 
thus  expands ;  the  writer  unfolds  a  second  part,  in 
which  he  may  disclose  his  views  on  the  destinies  of 
kings  and  peoples  of  his  time.  The  first  six  trumpets, 
like  the  opening  of  the  first  six  seals,  refer  to  facts 

1  Cf.  Ps.  xxix.  3-9;  Dan.  viii.  26;  xii.  4,  9. 

2  Dan.  xii.  7.  «  Ezek.  ii.  8-iii.  3;  Jer.  xv.  16. 


THE  APOCALYPSE,  313 

which  are  already  past ;  ^  that  which  follows  belongs 
mostly  to  the  future. 

The  Seer's  gaze  is  now  fixed  upon  Jerusalem.^  By 
symbols  sufficiently  plain  he  gives  us  to  understand 
that  the  city  is  to  be  surrendered  to  the  gentiles ;  ^  and 
to  foresee  this  early  in  the  year  69  required  no  great 
prophetic  effort.  The  porch  and  court  of  the  gentiles 
will  even  be  trampled  under  foot  by  the  unholy ;  *  but 
the  imagination  of  so  fervent  a  Jew  cannot  yet  conceive 
of  the  Temple  as  destroyed.  For  the  Temple  is  the 
only  spot  on  earth  where  God  can  be  truly  worshipped  : 
nay,  worship  in  heaven  itself  is  but  the  continuance  of 
that  established  here  ;  and  John  cannot  so  much  as 
imagine  a  world  without  the  Temple.  This,  then,  will 
be  preserved ;  and  the  faithful,  sealed  on  the  forehead 
with  the  mark  of  Jehovah,  will  continue  to  worship 
there.  Thus  it  will  be,  as  it  were,  a  sacred  space,  the 
spiritual  home  of  the  entire  Church.  This  will  continue 
for  forty-two  months,  or  three  years  and  a  half ;  that 
is,  half  a  "week  of  years"  {shcmitta).^  This  mystic 
cipher,  borrowed  from  "  Daniel,"  ^  is  several  times  re- 
peated afterwards.  This  is  the  length  of  time  the 
world  has  yet  to  live. 

^  It  is  true  that  the  invasion  to  follow  the  sixth  trumpet  has  not  yet 
taken  place ;  but  the  writer  evidently  regards  it  as  a  certain  thing. 

2  Rev.  xi.  «  Comp.  Ezek.  xl. ;  Zech.  ii. 

*  Luke  xxi.  24;  Dan.  viii.  13. 

5  A  shemitta,  or  period  of  seven  years,  is  often  taken  as  a  unit  of  time, 
the  Jubilee-period  being  composed  of  seven  such  units.  See  "  Book  of 
Jubilees  "  and  the  Samaritan  chronicle  published  by  Neubauer  (Journ. 
Asiat.  Dec.  1869). 

^  Daniel  vii.  25,  and  elsewhere.  Comp.  Luke  xxi.  24,  and  "days  of 
their  prophecy"  (Rev.  xi.  6)  with  "three  years  and  six  mouths''  (Luke 
iv.  25);  also,  Jas.  v.  17;  Enoch  x.  12;  xci ,  xciii. ;  and  the  apocalyptic 
weeks  of  the  Ismaelites,  inherited  from  Persian  formulae. 


314  ANTICHRIST. 

During  this  time  Jerusalem  will  be  the  scene  of  a 
great  religious  war,  like  the  conflicts  which  have  filled 
all  its  past  history.  God  will  give  commission  to  his 
"two  witnesses/'  who  will  prophesy  for  twelve  hun- 
dred and  sixty  days  —  that  is,  three  years  and  a  half 

—  clothed  in  sackcloth.  They  are  compared  to  two 
olive-trees  and  two  candlesticks  standing  before  the 
Lord.^    They  will  have  the  powers  of  Moses  and  Elijah, 

—  to  "  shut  heaven "  and  prevent  the  rain,  to  turn 
water  into  blood,  or  to  strike  the  earth  with  whatever 
plague  they  will.  If  any  shall  attempt  to  do  them 
harm,  a  fire  will  go  from  their  mouth  and  destroy  their 
enemies.^  At  the  end  of  the  days  of  their  prophesying, 
the  Beast  {drfpCov)  which  comes  up  from  the  bottomless 
pit  ^  —  the  Roman  power,  or  rather  Nero,  reappearing 
as  Antichrist  —  will  slay  them ;  and  for  three  days  and 
a  half  their  bodies  will  lie  unburied  "  in  the  open  place 
of  the  great  city  symbolically  called  Sodom  and  Egf/pt,^ 
where,  also,  their  Lord  was  crucified,"  —  that  is,  the 
rebellious  city,  wliich  kills  the  prophets.^  People  of 
the  world  will  rejoice  with  one  another,  and  send 
gifts ;  ^  for  these  two  prophets  were  intolerable  to  them 
through  their  austere  exhortations  and  their  appalling 
miracles.  But,  at  the  end  of  three  days  and  a  half,  the 
breath  of  life  comes  back  to  them ;  they  rise  to  their 
feet,  and  great  terror  comes  upon  all  who  see  them.^ 
Soon  they  ascend  to  heaven  in  a  cloud,  in  full  view  of 

1  Zech.  iv.  2  2  Kings  i.  10-12. 

8  Compare  Rev.  xvii.  8,  with  Dan.  vii.  7.  (The  Alexandrian  reading, 
ava^aivov,  is  explained  by  comparing  the  Sinaitic.) 

*  Isa.  i.  10;  iii.  9;  Jer.  xxiii.  14;  Ezck.  xvi.  48.  Egypt,  especially,  is 
the  country  hostile  to  the  chosen  people,  having  reduced  them  to  slavery. 

6  Matt,  xxiii.  37.  «  Neh.  viii.  10,  12;  Esth.  ix.  19,  22. 

^  Comp.  Ezek.  xxxvii.  10;  2  Kings  xiii.  21. 


THE  APOCALYPSE,  315 

their  enemies ;  and  at  the  same  time  comes  a  frightful 
earthquake,  in  which  a  tenth  part  of  the  city  is  de- 
stroyed, seven  thousand  men  perish,  and  the  remainder, 
terror-stricken,  are  converted,  and  give  glory  to  the  God 
of  heaven.^ 

We  have  several  times  already  been  met  by  the  idea 
that  the  last  great  day  would  be  preceded  by  two  wit- 
nesses, generally  conceived  to  be  Enoch  and  Elijah  in 
person.^  These  two  men,  dear  to  God,  were  believed 
not  to  have  died.  Enoch  was  thought  to  have  vainly 
foretold  the  Flood  to  the  men  of  his  time,  who  would 
not  listen ;  he  was  the  type  of  a  Jew  preaching  peni- 
tence among  the  gentiles.  Sometimes,  also,  the  wit- 
nesses are  compared  to  Moses,^  whose  death  was  in  like 
manner  obscure,  and  to  Jeremiah.*  The  writer  seems 
to  conceive  these  '^  witnesses  "  as  two  men  of  high  rank 
in  the  church  at  Jerusalem,  apostles  of  great  holiness, 
who  will  be  killed,  will  rise  again,  and  ascend  into 
heaven  like  Elijah  and  Jesus.  Possibly  the  Seer  in 
the  vision  may  look  backward,  and*refer  to  the  martyr- 
dom of  James  the  Greater  and  James  the  Less,  —  espe- 
cially to  that  of  "  James  the  Lord's  brother,"  which  was 

1  Rev.  xi.  11-13. 

a  See  "Life  of  Jesus,"  149, 151,  223;  Ecclus.  xliv.  16  ;  xlviii.  10;  Heb. 
xi.  5;  Iren.  iv.  16:  2;  v.  5:  1;  Tert.  Be  anima,  50;  Nicod.  25;  Hippol. 
21,  22,  104,  105;  Jer.  Epist.  ad  Marcellam,  iv.  165,  166;  Andrew  of  Crete 
and  Aretas  of  Csesarea  in  Not.  and  extr.  xx.  2 :  236 ;  Mai.  iii.  23 ;  Matt, 
xvi.  1-1;  xvii.  12;  John  i.  21;  Justin,  Tnjpho,  49;  (as  to  Elijah)  Seder 
olam  rabbtty  17;  Mishna,  Sota,  ix.  15;  Shekalim,  ii.  5;  Baha  metzia^  i.  8; 
ii.  8;  iii.  4,  5;  Ed  moth,  vui.T-^  Carm.  Sibyll.  ii.  187;  Commodian,  Carm.v. 
828,  827.  All  the  mythology  concerning  Enoch  and  Elijah  is  collected  in 
Malvenda's  Antichrist,  lib.  ix.  See  also  Berichte  of  the  society  of  Leipzig, 
1866,  213;  Sitzungsberichte  of  the  Academy  of  Munich,  1871,  p.  462. 

8  Rev.  xi.  6;  Matt.  xvii.  3  (account  of  the  Transfiguration). 

*  See  "Assumption  of  Moses;"  "Life  of  Jesus,"  p.  223;  Victoria: 
Bibl.  max.  jpatrum,  iii.  418 ;  Thilo,  Cod.  apocr.  N.  T.,  761,  762. 


3i6  ANTICHRIST, 

regarded  by  many  in  Jerusalem  as  a  public  calamity, 
a  fatal  event,  and  a  sign  of  the  time/  Possibly  one  of 
these  preachers  of  repentance  is  John  the  Baptist,  and 
the  other  is  Jesus.^  The  belief  that  the  end  would  not 
come  until  the  Jews  had  been  converted  was  general 
among  the  Christians ;  we  find  it  also  in  Paul.^ 

Now  that  the  rest  of  Israel  has  come  to  the  true 
faith,  the  world  is  ready  for  the  end.  The  seventh  and 
last  angel  sounds  his  trumpet ;  *  and  at  the  sound,  loud 
voices  cry,  "  The  hour  is  come  when  our  Lord  with  his 
Christ  shall  reign  upon  the  earth  forever ! "  The 
twenty-four  elders  fall  on  their  faces  and  adore,  thank- 
ing God  that  he  has  established  his  reign,  in  spite  of 
the  impotent  rage  of  the  gentiles,  and  proclaiming  the 
hour  of  reward  to  the  saints,  and  of  destruction  to  the 
spoilers  of  the  earth.  Then  the  doors  of  the  heavenly 
temple  are  thrown  open,  and  in  its  depths  is  seen  the 
ark  of  the  new  Covenant,  with  lightnings,  thunder,  and 
earthquake. 

All  is  now  finished.  The  faithful  have  received  the 
grand  revelation  which  shall  console  them.  The  Judg- 
ment is  at  hand ;  it  will  take  place  within  a  sacred 
half-year,  that  is,  three  and  a  half  years.  But  we  have 
already  found  the  writer,  regardless  of  the  unity  of 
his  work,  holding  in  reserve  the  means  of  going  on 
with  it  when  it  seems  complete.  The  book,  in  truth, 
is  only  half  done ;  a  new  series  of  visions  is  to  unfold 
before  us. 

The  first  is  one  of  the  finest.^  In  the  midst  of 
heaven  appears  a  Woman  (the  church  of  Israel),  clothed 

1  See  pp.  77,  78,  ante.  2  Matt.  xvii.  9-13. 

«  See  "  Saint  Paul,"  chap.  xvii. ;  Commodian,  Carmen,  v.  832,  930. 

*  Comp.  1  Cor.  xv.  42.  6  j^ev.  chap.  xii. 


THE  APOCALYPSE.  317 

with  the  sun,  having  the  moon  under  her  feet,  and 
about  her  head  a  crown  of  twelve  stars  (the  twelve 
tribes  of  Israel).  She  cries  out,  as  in  the  pangs  of 
travail,  about  to  bring  forth  the  ideal  Messiah.^  Before 
her  rises  an  enormous  red  Dragon  with  seven  crowned 
heads  and  ten  horns,^  whose  tail,  sweeping  the  sky, 
drags  down  a  third  of  the  stars  and  casts  them  on  the 
earth.^  This  is  Satan,  under  the  features  of  the  most 
potent  of  his  incarnations,  the  Eoman  Empire :  the  red 
colour  figures  the  imperial  purple ;  the  seven  crowned 
heads  are,  as  the  writer  explains,"*  the  seven  Caesars 
who  have  reigned  up  to  this  time, — Julius,  Augustus, 
Tiberius,  Caligula,  Claudius,  Nero,  and  Galba ;  ^  the  ten 
horns  are  the  ten  proconsuls  of  the  provinces.^  The 
Dragon  watches  for  the  infant's  birth,  so  as  to  devour 
him.  The  Woman  gives  birth  to  the  child  destined  "to 
rule  the  nations  with  a  rod  of  iron,"  —  a  characteristic 
trait  of  the  Messiah^  The  child  (Jesus)  is  taken  by 
God  into  heaven,  and  placed  at  His  right  hand  upon  the 
throne.^  The  Woman  flees  to  the  desert,  where  God  has 
provided  a  shelter  for  twelve  hundred  and  sixty  days. 

1  Micah  iv.  10. 

2  Bab.  Talm.  Kiddushin,  29  b. ;  Dan.  vii.  6,  7 ;  Rev.  v.  6. 
«  Cf.  Dan.  viii.  10.  *  Rev.  xvii.  10. 

^  Joaephus  always  reckons  Julius  as  the  first  emperor,  and  Augustus, 
Tiberius,  Caius  (Caligula),  as  the  second,  third,  and  fourth  {Ant.  xviii. 
2:  2;  6:  10).  So  4  Esdras  (xi.  12,  13,  17),  Suetonius,  Aur.  Victor,  Julian 
{Cms.  308).  St.  Beatus,  in  the  eighth  century,  knows  no  other  reckoning  : 
sextus  fuit  Nero,  etc.  (p.  498,  Florez)  ;  he  elsewhere  (438)  speaks  differently, 
probably  copying  from  writers  who  differed  among  themselves. 

•  See  p.  337  (below),  and  Rev.  xvi.  14;  xvii.  12;  xix.  19.  The  image 
is  taken  from  Dan.  vii.  7,  24.  The  writer  thinks  he  sees  the  Roman 
Empire  in  Daniel's  fourth  beast,  which  is  really  that  of  the  Greeks. 

7  Ps.  ii.  9;  Rev.  ii.  27;  xix.  15. 

8  The  writer  believes  in  the  ascension  of  Jesus.  That  of  the  "two 
witnesses"  (xi.  12)  rests  upon  some  legend  known  to  him:  see  "The 
Apostles,"  chap.  iii.  (near  the  end). 


31 8  ANTICHRIST. 

Here  is  a  plain  reference  either  to  the  flight  of  the  Church 
from  Jerusalem,  and  the  three-and-a-half  years'  peace  it 
should  enjoy  within  the  walls  of  Pella  till  the  end  of 
the  world ;  or  else  to  the  refuge  of  the  Jewish  Chris- 
tians and  the  two  apostles  in  Asia  Minor.  The  image 
of  the  "  desert "  applies  better  to  the  former.  Pella, 
beyond  Jordan,  was  a  peaceful  district,  near  the  Ara- 
bian desert,  where  the  noise  of  war  was  hardly  ever 
heard. 

Then  follows  a  great  war  in  heaven.  Until  now, 
Satan,  the  Accuser,^  the  malicious  critic  of  creation,  has 
had  his  right  of  admission  into  the  divine  court,  and 
availed  himself  of  it  —  by  the  old  custom  which  he  has 
not  lost  since  the  time  of  Job^  —  to  afflict  pious  men, 
Christians  especially,  and  bring  upon  them  frightful 
sufferings,  as  in  the  persecutions  of  Rome  and  Ephe- 
sus.  He  must  now  lose  this  privilege.  The  archangel 
Michael,  heavenly  protector  of  Israel,  with  his  angels,^ 
gives  him  battle.  Satan  is  conquered,  driven  out  of 
heaven,  and  cast  down  to  earth  with  his  accomplices ; 
and  a  song  of  triumph  breaks  forth  when  the  celestial 
hosts  see,  hurled  from  on  high,  the  calumniator,  him 
who  maligns  all  good,  who  never,  by  day  or  night, 
ceased  to  accuse  and  vilify  their  brethren  dwelling  on 
the  earth.*  The  Church  above  and  that  below  join 
hands  in  the  defeat  of  Satan,  which  is  due  to  the  blood 
of  the  Lamb  and  to  the  courage  of  the  martyrs  who 
have  endured   torment  unto  death.     But  woe  to  the 

^  The  writer  employs  here  (xii.  10)  the  rabbinic  form  KaTr)ya>p  (katigor) 
for  the  Greek  Karrjyopos. 

2  Job,  prologue;  1  Chron.  xxi.  1;  comp.  zdbulus  (didbolus)  in  the  As- 
sumption  of  Moses, 

8  Dan.  X.  13,  21;  xii.  1;  Jude  9. 

*  Gen.  iii.  1 ;  Job  i.-ii. ;  Zech.  iii.  1. 


THE  APOCALYPSE.  319 

giiilty  world  !  The  Dragon  has  gone  down  into  it,  and 
anything  may  be  feared  from  his  despair,  for  he  knows 
that  his  time  is  short. 

The  first  object  of  the  Dragon's  rage  when  cast  down 
to  the  earth  is  the  Woman  (the  church  of  Israel),  who 
has  given  birth  to  the  divine  Child  whom  God  has  set 
at  his  own  right  hand.  But  she  is  shielded  by  protec- 
tion from  above,  and  two  wings  are  given  her,  wings  of 
a  great  eagle,  by  means  of  which  she  flies  to  the  desert- 
retreat  provided  for  her,  —  that  is,  Pella.  Here  she  is 
nourished  for  three  years  and  a  half,  unseen  by  the 
Dragon,  whose  fury  is  at  its  height.  He  pours  forth 
from  his  mouth  a  flood  of  water  to  drown  her,  and 
carry  her  away;  but  the  earth  comes  to  her  help, 
opens,  and  drinks  in  the  flood,  —  an  allusion  to  some 
unknown  circumstance  of  the  flight  to  Pella.^  The 
Dragon,  finding  himself  powerless  against  the  Woman 
(the  mother-church  of  Israel),  turns  his  rage  against 
"the  remnant  of  her  race,"  —  that  is,  the  churches  of 
"the  Dispersion,"  which  keep  the  commands  of  God,^ 
and  are  faithful  witnesses  of  Jesus.  This  is  evidently 
an  allusion  to  the  later  persecutions,  and  especially  to 
that  under  Nero. 

Then  ^  the  prophet  beholds,  coming  up  from  the  sea, 
a  Beast,^  in  many  points  like  the  Dragon.  It  has  ten 
horns,  seven  heads,  crowns  upon  the  ten  horns,  and  on 
each  of  the  heads  a  name  of  blasphemy.  Its  general 
appearance  is  that  of  a  leopard  ;  but  its  feet  are  those 
of  a  bear  and  its  mouth  that  of  a  lion :  its  strength, 

1  See  above,  pp.  240,  241 ;  and  comp.  Jos.  Wars,  iv.  7:  5,  6. 

2  As  contrasted  with  the  Pauline  churches,  which,  said  the  Judaeo- 
Christians,  refused  the  commandments  of  Noah  and  the  compact  of 
Jerusalem. 

8  Chap.  xiii.  -»  Qr^plov :  cf.  Dan.  vii.  3,  8 ;  xi.  36. 


320  ANTICHRIST, 

throne,  and  power  are  given  to  it  by  the  Dragon 
(Satan).  One  of  the  heads  has  received  a  deadly 
wound,  but  this  has  been  healed.  The  whole  eartli 
falls  down  in  amazement  at  this  mighty  creature,  and 
all  men  set  themselves  to  worship  the  Dragon  that  has 
given  power  to  the  Beast.  They  worship  the  Beast  also, 
saying,  '-  Who  is  like  the  Beast,  or  is  able  to  war  against 
him  ?  "  And  there  is  given  him  a  mouth  uttering  great 
boasts  and  blasphemies,  and  the  term  of  his  power  is  set 
as  forty-two  months  —  three  years  and  a  half.  Then 
the  Beast  begins  to  utter  blasphemies  against  God,  his 
name,  his  tabernacle,  and  those  who  dwell  in  heaven. 
And  it  is  given  him  to  make  war  upon  the  saints  and 
conquer  them,^  and  power  is  given  him  over  every 
tribe,  people,  language,  and  race ;  and  all  men  bow 
down  to  him,  excepting  those  whose  names  are  written 
from  the  foundation  of  the  world  in  the  book  of  life  of 
the  Lamb  that  was  slain.  '^  If  any  man  have  an  ear, 
let  him  hear !  If  any  one  leads  into  captivity,  he  shall 
go  into  captivity.  If  any  shall  kill  with  the  sword,  he 
shall  perish  by  the  sword .^  Here  is  the  secret  of  the 
faith  and  patience  of  the  saints." 

The  symbol  is  very  plain.  Already  in  the  Sibylline 
verses  of  the  second  century  before  Christ,  the  Roman 
power  is  called  "the  power  of  many  heads."  ^  Allegories 
founded  upon  many-headed  beasts  were  then  much  in 
fashion ;  and  in  interpreting  such  emblems  the  funda- 
mental principle  is  that  each  head  signifies  a  sovereign.* 
The  monster  of  the  Apocalypse  is,  besides,  made  up  by 

1  Dan.  vii.  21  (in  the  Sinaitic  MS.). 

2  Jer.  XV.  2;  Matt.  xxvi.  52. 

*  TTokvKpavos'.  Carm.  Sibyll.  iii.  176. 

*  Tac.  Ann.  xii.  64;  xv.  47;  Philostr.  Apoll.  v.  13;  see  p.  261,  ante. 
Comp.  Dan.  vii. ;  4  Esdr.  xi.,  xiii. 


THE  APOCALYPSE.  321 

joining  together  the  attributes  of  the  four  empires  in 
Daniel ;  ^  and  this  alone  would  show  that  we  have  here 
to  do  with  a  new  empire,  which  absorbs  into  itself  the 
older  empires.  The  Beast  which  comes  forth  from  the 
sea  is,  then,  the  Roman  Empire,  which  to  the  people  of 
Palestine  must  seem  to  come  "  from  the  western  sea."  ^ 
This  Empire  is  but  one  form  of  Satan  (the  Dragon),  or 
rather,  is  Satan  himself,  with  all  his  attributes.  It 
holds  its  power  from  Satan,  and  uses  all  its  energies  in 
Satan's  service,  —  that  is,  to  maintain  idolatry,  which  in 
the  writer's  view  is  simply  the  worship  of  devils.  The 
ten  crowned  horns  are  the  ten  imperial  provinces,  — 
Italy,  Achaia,  Asia,  Syria,  Egypt,  Africa,  Spain,  Gaul, 
Britain,  and  Germany,  —  whose  proconsuls  are  real 
[though  temporary]  kings.^  The  seven  heads  are  the 
successive  Emperors  from  Julius  Caesar  to  Galba ;  the 
"  name  of  blasphemy  "  written  on  each  head  is  Se^a- 
crro?  ["  worshipful  "]  or  Augustus,  which  to  strict  Jews 
appeared  an  insult  to  God.  The  whole  earth  is  given 
over  by  Satan  to  this  Empire,  in  recompense  for  the 
worship  procured  for  Satan  by  the  Empire.  The  gran- 
deur and  pride  of  Rome,  the  imperium  (or  military  rule) 
which  it  creates,  its  divinity  as  an  object  of  special  and 
public  homage,*  are  a  perpetual  blasphemy  against  God, 
who  is  the  sole  real  lord  of  the  earth.  Thus  the  Em- 
pire is  naturally  a  foe  to  the  Jews  and  to  Jerusalem. 
It  makes  a  fierce  war  against  the  holy  people  (the 
writer  appears  on  the  whole  to  favour  the  insurrec- 
tion), and  will  conqirer  them ;  but  its  power  will  last 

^  Dan.  vii. 

^  Carm.  Sibyll.  I.  c.  (a<^'  ecnrepiov  re  0a\d(r(rr)i). 

8  As  made  plain  in  Rev.  xvii.  12;  comp.  Dan.  vii.  24. 

*  Suet.  Aug.  52. 

21 


322  ANTICHRIST, 

no  more  than  three  years  and  a  half.  The  head 
"  wounded  to  death/'  whose  wound  is,  however,  healed, 
is  Nero,  lately  overthrown  but  miraculously  preserved 
from  death,^  and  believed  to  have  taken  refuge  with 
the  Parthians.  The  adoration  of  the  Beast  is  the  wor- 
ship of  "  Rome  and  Augustus,"  ^  so  extended  throughout 
the  province  of  Asia,  and  making  the  basis  of  the  popu- 
lar religion.^ 

The  symbol  that  follows  is  far  from  being  equally 
clear  to  us.  Another  beast  comes  out  from  the  earth, 
having  two  horns  like  those  of  a  lamb,  but  speaking 
like  a  dragon  (Satan).  It  wields  all  the  power  of  the 
former  beast  in  its  presence  and  under  its  eye,  serving 
as  its  delegate,  and  exerting  all  its  authority  to  compel 
the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  to  worship  "the  first  beast, 
whose  deadly  wound  was  healed,"*  —  a  confusion  be- 
tween the  beast  itself  and  the  wounded  head.  This  sec- 
ond beast  performs  great  miracles,  even  to  "  making  fire 
come  down  from  heaven  to  earth  in  the  sight  of  men ; '' 
and  deceives  the  world  by  the  wonders  it  performs  in 
the  name  and  for  the  service  of  the  former  beast,  which 
was  wounded  by  a  sword  and  yet  lives.  And  it  has 
power  to  infuse  the  breath  of  life  into  the  image  of  the 
former,  so  that  this  image  speaks,^  and  to  cause  all  who 
refuse  its  worship  to  be  put  to  death.  And  it  compels 
all  —  small  and  great,  rich  and  poor,  slave  or  free  —  to 
carry  a  mark  on  their  right  hand  or  on  their  forehead ; 
and  ordains  that  no  one  can  buy  or  sell   unless   he 

1  Sulp.  Sev.  Hkt.  ii.  29. 

2  The  title  of  its  priesthood  was  Flamen  Romce  divorum  et  Augusti.  —  Ed. 
8  See'*'  Saint  Paul,"  chap.  ii. ;  Waddington,  Inscr.^  iii.  No.  885. 

*  Rev.  xiii.  12. 

6  On  the  speaking  statues  of  the  Romans,  see  Val.  Max.  i.  8 : 3-5 ; 
also,  Comptes  rendus,  etc.,  1872,  p.  285. 


THE  APOCALYPSE.  323 

carries  the  mark  {yapayiio)  of  the  beast,  or  its  name, 
or  the  number  of  its  name,  —  that  is,  the  number  made 
by  adding  the  numerical  vahies  of  the  letters  that  com- 
pose the  name.  *^  Here  is  wisdom  !  "  cries  the  writer. 
"  Let  him  that  has  understanding  calculate  the  number 
of  the  beast,  for  it  is  the  number  of  a  man  (that  is,  of 
a  man's  proper  name)  ;  and  its  number  is  six  hundred 
and  sixty-six." 

In  fact,  if  we  add  together  the  letters  of  Nero's  name 
as  written  in  Hebrew,  —  fn<3  *^Dp,^  Nepwi/  Katcra/), — 
with  their  numerical  values,  we  obtain  the  number  666.^ 
The  Asiatic  Christians  no  doubt  designated  the  monster 
by  the  term  Neron  Kesar ;  his  Asiatic  coins  bearing  the 
inscription  NEPnN  KAISAP.^     Calculations  like  these 

^  The  word  IDD  is  found  thus  written  (without  quiescents)  in  Palmy- 
rene  inscriptions  of  the  third  century  (Vogiie,  Syrie  centr.  inscr.  semit : 
comp.  the  Syriac  form  in  the  Peshito,  and  Buxtorf ,  Lex.  chald.  2081,  2082 ; 
Ewald,  Die  johann.  Schrl/ten,  ii.  263,  n.  The  Nabathjean  inscription  of 
Hebran  (a.  d.  47)  has  "^^'p  (Vogiid,  id.  100.  He  wrongly  reads  y  for  q, 
not  observing  the  difference  as  written  in  Nabathaean  :  cf.  pp.  113,  114). 
See  Journ.  Asiat.  June,  1868,  p.  538;  April,  May,  1873,  p.  316,  n.  1; 
Zeitsch.  der  d.  m.  G.  1871,  p.  431.  To  distinguish  the  two  lettera,  notice 
the  certain  V  of  the  inscriptions  of  Bosra  and  Salkhat  (Vogiid,  pi.  xiv. 
4,  6),  observing  that,  as  a  purely  Semitic  letter,  it  rarely  occurs  in  Syriac 
in  the  transcription  of  Greek  and  Latin  names.  In  Palniyrene  (Vogiie', 
pp.  18,  20,  21,  25),  in  Talmudic  (Buxtorf),  the  a  in  (TTparriyos,  etc..  is  ren- 
dered by  D.  The  Arabic  spelling  belongs  to  a  time  when  the  tsaddi  had 
lost  its  special  native  force.  The  omission  of  "•  (i/od)  may  seem  singular 
in  the  first  century.  It  is  probably  suppressed  designedly,  that  the  cipher 
may  be  symmetrical,  —  666.  With  the  "•  (=  10)  it  would  have  been  676, 
which  would  be  less  striking.  In  talmudic  writings,  Cesarcea  is  some- 
times written  T'^'^P   (Midrash,  Esther,  1). 

2  Thus:  J,  50;  1,  200;  l,  6;  j,  50;  p,  100;  D,  60;  n,  200,  — the  sum  of 
which  is  666.  The  reading  616,  mentioned  by  Irenaeus,  v.  30:  1,  is  made 
by  omitting  the  final  ]  (50),  reducing  the  name  to  the  Latin  form,  Nero. 

8  Mionnet,  iii.  93;  Suppl.  vi.  128  a.  Mr.  Waddington  tells  me  that 
this  legend  is  common  on  Asiatic  coins  (comp.  Krafft's  inscr.  of  Topog. 
Jerus.  no.  31.     {Corpus,  etc.,  Syria,  135.) 


324  ANTICHRIST. 

were  familiar  to  the  Jews,  and  made  a  cabalistic  puzzle, 
called  ghematria  (yew/ierpia)."^  It  was,  further,  not  un- 
known to  the  Asiatic  Greeks,^  and  the  Gnostics  of  the 
second  century  delighted  in  it.^ 

Thus  the  emperor  signified  by  the  head  mortally 
hurt,  but  not  killed,  —  as  the  writer  himself  signifies, 
—  is  Nero,*  who  was  widely  supposed  by  the  people  of 
Asia  to  be  still  alive.  Of  this  there  can  be  no  doubt. 
But  what  is  the  second  beast,  that  agent  of  Nero,  — 
having  the  ways  of  a  pious  Jew  and  the  language  of 
Satan ;  ^  Nero's  double,  working  in  his  interest,  per- 
forming wonders,  going  so  far  as  to  make  his  statue 
speak,  persecuting  the  faithful  Jews  who  will  not  ren- 
der to  Nero  the  same  honours  with  the  pagans,  or  wear 
the  mark  that  denotes  them  as  members  of  his  party ; 
rendering  their  life  intolerable,  and  forbidding  to  them 
those  most  essential  acts,  purchase  and  sale  ?  Some 
points  might  apply  to  a  Jewish  functionary  (like  Tibe- 
rius Alexander),  devoted  to  the  Romans,  and  regarded 
as  an  apostate  by  his  countrymen.  The  mere  fact  of 
paying  tribute  to  the  Empire  might  be  called  "  worship 
of  the  Beast,"  since  tribute  had  in  Jewish  eyes  the 
aspect  of  a  religious  offering,  implying  homage  to  the 
person  of   the   sovereign.^     The    sign  or  "  mark "   of 

1  Comp.  Assump.  of  Moses,  9;  Carm.  Sihyll.  i.  141,  326;  v.  28  (refer- 
ring to  Nero);  viii.  148-150;  and  the  number  153  in  John  xxi.  11  (?). 
As  to  the  use  of  the  gfiematrioth,  at  the  talmudic  period,  see  Litteratur- 
hlatt  des  Orients,  1849,  671,  672,  762-764;  1850,  116,  117. 

2  Inscriptions  at  Pergamus,  laoyfrijcpoi  [in  which  the  numerical  value  of 
the  letters  in  two  different  lines  or  words  is  equal],  Corp.  etc.,  3544,  3545, 
3546;  of.  5113,  5119;  Boissonade,  Anecd.  Gr.  ii.  459-461. 

*  Iren.  i.  14,  15,  passim, 

*  In  the  *'  Caesars"  of  Julian,  Caligula  and  Domitian  are  also  repre- 
sented by  two  beasts  (pp.  310,  311). 

^  Matt.  vii.  15.  ["false  prophets  in  sheep's  clothing  "]. 
^  Melito,   De  veritate,   xli.  ;    he  commented    upon    portions    of    the 
Apocalypse. 


THE  APOCALYPSE.  325 

the  Beast  i^ipcav  Kaia-ap),  which  one  was  required  to 
wear  to  secure  civil  rights,  may  have  been  a  ticket  of 
Koman  citizenship,  without  which  life  in  some  countries 
was  full  of  hardship,  but  which  by  a  Jewish  fanatic 
was  held  to  be  the  crime  of  complicity  in  the  work  of 
Satan ;  or  it  may  have  been  coin  with  Nero's  image, 
which  was  held  by  Jews  in  revolt  to  be  abominable,  on 
account  of  the  blasphemous  images  and  inscriptions  on 
it,  so  that  they  made  haste,  as  soon  as  they  were  free 
in  Jerusalem,  to  substitute  an  orthodox  coinage  of  their 
own.  The  Roman  partisan,  we  are  supposing,  might 
seem  guilty  of  a  horrid  crime  in  upholding  money  of 
Nero's  coinage  as  current  by  compulsion  in  trades.-^ 
Such  coinage  would  fill  the  market ;  and  those  who 
from  religious  scruple  refused  to  deal  with  it  were 
practically  outlawed. 

The  proconsul  of  Asia  at  this  time  was  Fonteius 
Agrippa,^  a  grave  magistrate,  whom  we  cannot  once 
think  of  as  a  means  of  relieving  our  perplexity.  A 
high-priest  of  Asia,  zealous  for  the  worship  of  Rome 
and  Augustus,^  and  employing  his  delegated  civil 
power  to  distress  the  Jews  and  Christians,  would  meet 
some  of  the  conditions  of  the  problem.  But  the  fea- 
tures shown  us  in  the  second  beast,  as  a  deceiver  and 
wonder-worker,  do  not  suit  such  a  character.  They 
rather  make  us  think  of  a  false  prophet,  a  magician, 
Simon  Magus,  for  example,*  —  an  imitator  of  Christ 

^  Tt  was  remarked  as  a  singular  thing  (Zonaras,  Ann.  xi.  16)  that 
Vitellius  permitted  the  circulation  of  Nero's,  and  even  of  Galba's  and 
Otho's  coinage. 

2  Waddington,  Fasti  of  the  Province  of  Asia,  140,  141. 

*  Waddington,  Inscr.  (Le  Bas),  iii.  885. 

*  Simon,  according  to  the  legend,  went  to  Rome  in  the  reign  of  Nero, 
to  display  before  him  his  magic  skill.     An  incident  that  happened  in  the 


326  ANTICHRIST, 

(whence  the  lamb's  horns  of  ver.  11) ;  then,  in  the 
legend,  the  flatterer,  parasite,  and  professional  juggler 
of  Nero ;  ^  or  Balbillus  of  Ephesus ;  ^  or  the  "  Man  of 
Sin  "  (Antichrist)  obscurely  spoken  of  by  Paul.^  It  is 
probable  that  the  person  had  in  view  by  the  writer  of 
the  Apocalypse  is  some  impostor  of  Ephesus,  a  partisan 
of  Nero,  or,  it  may  be,  the  pretended  Nero  himself,  or 
an  agent  of  his.  In  fact,  the  same  man  is  afterwards 
called  "  the  false  prophet,"  *  in  the  sense  that  he  pro- 
claims a  false  god,  —  as  Aaron  is  the  "prophet"  of 
Moses  in  Ex.  vii.  1,  —  that  is,  Nero.  We  must  keep  in 
view  the  importance  attached  at  this  time  to  magi, 
Chaldseans,  "  mathematicians  "  (or  magicians),  —  a 
form  of  nuisance  particularly  at  home  in  Ephesus. 
We  must  recall,  too,  the  fact  that  Nero  dreamed  once 
of  a  "  kingdom  at  Jerusalem ; "  that  he  was  in  close 
league  with  the  astrologers  of  his  time ;  ^   and  that, 

amphitheatre  in  Nero's  presence  (Suet.  Nero^  12;  Dion  Chrys.  Or.  xxi.  9; 
Juvenal,  iii.  78-80)  strongly  suggest  the  tragic  end  of  Simon's  career.  The 
prodigies  attributed  to  "  the  false  prophet"  of  the  Apocalypse  have  some 
likeness  to  those  ascribed  to  Simon  in  the  Christian  romance  (Pseudo- 
Clem.  Horn.  ii.  34;  iv.  4;  Recogn.  ii.  9;  iii.  47,  57;  Const.  Apost.  vi.  9; 
Acta  Petri,  etc.,  32,  35,  52,  70-77;  Pseudo-Hegesippus,  iii.  2;  Epiph.  xxi. 
5;  Maximus,  in  Bibl.  max.  Pair.  vi.  36;  Arnobius,  Adv.  gentes,  ii.  12). 
This  is  one  reason  which  might  lead  us  to  suspect  in  the  false  prophet  a 
symbolic  representation  of  Saint  Paul.     (Comp.  pp.  59,  60,  ante.) 

^  Greg,  of  Tours,  i.  24.  The  false  Icarus  was  a  domestic  of  Nero*s 
(Dion.  Chrysost.). 

2  Suet.  Nero,  36 ;  Dion  Cass.  Ixvi.  9 ;  Arnob.  Adv.  gentes,  i.  p.  15,  ed. 
Rigault  (Bcebulus  =  Balbillus?).  For  the  games  founded  in  his  honour 
(|3aX/3iXX€ta),  comp.  Corp.  inscr.  Gr.  2810,  3208,  3675,  5804,  5913.  The 
expression  "before  him"  (Jvatinov,  Rev.  xiii.  12,  14;  xix.  20)  does  not 
necessarily  mean  in  bodily  presence:  a  prophet  who  speaks  for  another 
is  represented  as  acting  or  speaking  before  him  (VJ3^) ;  cf.  Acta  Petri 
et  Pau'i,  75. 

8  2  Thess.  ii.  3,  4. 

4  Rev.  xvi.  13;  xix.  20;  xx.  10;  cf.  Matt.  xxiv.  24. 

6  Suet.  Nero,  34,  36,  40;  Pliny,  //.  A^.,  xxx.  2. 


THE  APOCALYPSE.  327 

almost  alone  of  the  emperors  [before  Diocletian],  he 
was  adored  in  his  lifetime  as  a  deity/  —  a  sign  of 
Antichrist.^  During  his  visit  to  Greece,  in  particular, 
the  adulation  paid  him  by  Achaia  and  Asia  surpassed 
all  that  we  could  imagine.  And,  further,  we  must  not 
forget  the  gravity,  in  Asia  and  the  Greek  islands,  of 
the  uprising  under  the  pretended  Nero,^  The  circum- 
stance that  the  second  beast  comes  from  the  land,  not 
like  the  first  from  the  sea,  shows  that  the  event  spoken 
of  happened  in  Asia  or  Judaea,  not  in  Rome.  All  this, 
however,  is  not  enough  to  lift  the  darkness  covering  this 
vision.  Without  doubt  it  had,  in  the  writer's  mind,  the 
same  distinct  basis  in  fact  as  the  others ;  but,  referring 
as  it  does  to  some  provincial  incident  unknown  to  his- 
torians, and  important  only  in  the  personal  feeling  of 
the  Seer,  it  remains  an  unanswered  riddle. 

Amid  these  floods  of  wrath  now  appears  an  islet  of 
verdure.*  In  the  most  frightful  conflicts  of  the  last 
days,  there  is  one  place  of  refuge  and  comfort:  it  is 
the  Church,  the  little  household  of  Jesus.  The  prophet 
sees,  reposing  upon  Mount  Zion,  the  hundred  and  forty- 
four  thousand  ransomed  of  the  whole  earth,  bearing 
the  name  of  God  upon  their  foreheads.  The  Lamb 
rests  peacefully  in  the  midst  of  them.  Celestial  har- 
monies fall  from  harps  upon  the  gathering ;  the  singers 
sing  a  new  song,  which  none  other  may  repeat  except 
the  hundred  and  forty-four  thousand.    The  test  of  these 

1  Tac.  Ann.  xv.  74.  2  2  Thess.  ii.  3,  4. 

8  See  the  expressions  of  Tacitus  {Hist.  ii.  8,  9):  "  wide-spread  terror," 
*'  false  alarm  in  Achaia  and  Asia,"  etc. ;  also,  Zonaras  (in  Dion.):  "terri- 
fied almost  all  Greece"  (.4nn.  xi.  15).  Asia  Minor  continued  to  produce 
these  impostors  (Zonaras,  xi.  18) ;  and  we  feel  that  here  is  the  home  of 
Neronianism. 

*  Rev.  chap,  xiv. 


328  ANTICHRIST, 

blessed  ones  is  strict  chastity :  all  are  virgin  without 
stain ;  their  lips  have  never  spoken  a  lie ;  ^  thus  they 
follow  the  Lamb  wherever  he  goes,  as  first-fruits  of  the 
earth  and  nucleus  of  the  future  realm. 

After  turning  aside  thus  swiftly  to  a  haven  of  peace 
and  innocence,  the  writer  reverts  to  his  dreadful  vis- 
ions. Three  angels  pass  swiftly  through  the  sky.  The 
first  flies  to  the  zenith  bearing  the  eternal  gospel.  He 
proclaims  before  all  nations  the  new  doctrine,  and 
announces  the  Judgment  day.  The  second  celebrates 
by  anticipation  the  destruction  of  Rome :  "  She  is 
fallen,  is  fallen,  Babylon  the  mighty  city ,^  which  has 
made  all  nations  drunk  with  the  wine  of  her  forni- 
cation." ^  The  third  angel  forbids  the  worship  of  the 
Beast,  or  of  his  image  made  by  the  false  prophet : 
"  Those  who  worship  the  Beast  or  his  image,  or  who 
bear  the  mark  of  the  Beast  on  their  forehead  or 
their  hand,  shall  drink  wine  of  the  wrath  of  God, 
undiluted  wine  mingled  in  the  cup  of  his  anger,*  and 
shall  be  tortured  with  fire  and  brimstone  before  the 
angels  and  the  Lamb.  And  the  smoke  of  their  torment 
rises  through  ages  of  ages,  and  they  have  no  respite 
day  or  night,^  —  they  who  worship  the  Beast  or  his 
image,  and  who  take  upon  them  the  mark  of  his  name. 
Here  is  the  patience  of  the  saints,  who  keep  the  com- 
mandments of  God^  and  the  faith  of  Jesus."     To  re- 

1  Zeph.  iii.  13. 

2  On  the  prophetic  or  symbolic  use  of  this  name,  see  p.  115. 

8  Isa.  xxi.  9 ;  Jer.  11.  7 ;  Dan.  iv.  27.  The  word  here  signifies  incite- 
ment to  idolatry,  which,  according  to  the  Seer,  is  the  great  crime  of  the 
Roman  Empire.  In  the  language  of  prophecy,  impurity  is  inseparable 
from  idolatry. 

4  Psa.  Ixxv.  9 ;  Carm.  SihylL  proem,  76-78.  ^  Isa.  xxiv.  9,  10. 

®  The  strict  Judseo-Christians,  who  observe  the  Law,  or  at  least  those 
converts  who  keep  the  commandments  of  Noah. 


THE  APOCALYPSE.  329 

assure  their  faith  upon  a  question  that  sometimes 
troubles  them,  as  to  the  doom  of  their  brethren  who 
die  from  day  to  day/  a  voice  directs  the  prophet  to 
write,  '^  Blessed  henceforth  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the 
Lord.  Yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  they  will  rest  from  their 
labours,  for  their  works  follow  them."  ^ 

The  images  of  the  Great  Judgment  crowd  upon  the 
heated  imagination  of  the  Seer.  A  white  cloud  ap- 
pears in  the  sky,  and  on  the  cloud  is  seated,  as  it  were, 
a  Son  of  Man  (an  angel  like  the  Messiah),^  his  head 
crowned  with  gold,  and  in  his  hand  a  sharp  sickle.* 
The  harvest  of  the  earth  is  ripe.  The  Son  of  Man  puts 
in  his  sickle,  and  the  harvest  of  the  earth  is  reaped. 
Another  angel  goes  on  to  the  vintage;^  he  casts  the 
whole  into  the  great  vat  of  the  wrath  of  God.^  The 
vat  is  trampled  with  feet  outside  the  city;^  and  the 
blood  which  gushes  from  it  rises  to  the  height  of  the 
horses'  bridle-reins,  over  an  extent  of  sixteen  hundred 
furlongs. 

After  these  various  episodes  a  celestial  ceremony,  like 
the  two  mysteries  of  the  opening  of  the  seals  and 
sounding  of  the  trumpets,  takes  place  in  view  of  the 
Seer.^  Seven  angels  are  empowered  to  strike  the  earth 
with  the  seven  last  plagues,  through  which  the  wrath 
of  God  will  be  spent.     But  first  we  are  reassured  as  to 

1  See  «  Saint  Paul,"  chaps,  ix.,  xiv.;  1  Thess.  iv.  14, 16 ;  1  Cor.  xv.  18 ; 
comp.  Phil.  i.  23;  John  v.  24;  Luke  xxiii.  43. 

2  Pirke  Ahoth,  vi.  9. 

8  Dan.  vii.  13;  Matt.  xxiv.  30;  Luke  xxi.  27;  Rev.  i.  13. 

*  Joel  iii.  13 ;  Jer.  li.  33. 

*  Joel  iii.  13;  Isa.  xvii.  5;  Ixiii.  1-6. 

«  Isa.  Ixiii.  3;  Micah  iv.  13;  Hab.  iii.  12. 

^  Alluding  probably  to  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat  (Joel  iii.  2,  11-14). 
The  name  was  already  beginning  to  be  identified  with  the  vale  of  Kedron. 
^  Rev.  chap.  xv. 


330  ANTICHRIST. 

the  destiny  of  the  elect.  Upon  a  vast  sea  of  crystal 
mingled  with  fire  we  see  the  conquerors  of  the  Beast  — 
that  is,  those  who  have  refused  to  worship  his  hnage  or 
to  bear  the  mark  of  his  name  —  holding  in  their  hands 
the  harps  of  God,  singing  the  song  of  Moses  (that  after 
the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea)  and  of  the  Lamb.  The 
door  of  the  heavenly  tabernacle  is  open,  and  there 
issue  the  seven  angels  clad  in  white  linen,  and  girt 
about  the  breast  with  golden  girdles,  —  the  costume  of 
Jewish  priests.^  One  of  the  four  "living  creatures'* 
gives  them  seven  golden  bowls,  full  to  the  brim  with 
the  wraith  of  God.^  The  temple  is  then  filled  with  the 
"smoke  from  the  glory  of  God,"  and  none  can  enter 
till  the  end  of  the  scene  of  the  seven  bowls.^ 

The  first  angel*  pours  his  bowl  upon  the  earth,  and 
"  there  falls  a  noisome  and  grievous  sore "  upon  all 
those  who  bear  the  image  of  the  Beast,  or  worship 
his  image. 

The  second  angel  pours  his  bowl  into  the  sea ;  and 
the  sea  is  changed  into  blood,  and  all  living  creatures 
in  it  perish. 

The  third  angel  pours  his  bowl  upon  the  rivers  and 
springs,  and  they  are  turned  into  blood.  The  angel  of 
the  waters  complains  not  of  the  loss  of  his  own  ele- 
ment, but  says,  "Thou  art  just,  0  Lord,  that  art  and 
wast  and  shalt  be,  in  that  thou  hast  judged  thus. 
They  have  shed  the  blood  of  saints  and  prophets,  and 
thou  hast  given  them  blood  to  drink.  This  they  have 
deserved."     And  a  voice  is  heard  from  the  altar,  saying, 

1  Ex.  xxviii.  39,  40;  Lev.  vii.  3. 

2  Ezek.  xxii.  31;  Zeph.  iii,  8;  Ps.  Ixxxix.  6;  Ezek.  x.  7. 

*  Ex.  xl.  34  ;  1  Kings  viii.  10,  11 ;  Isa.  vi.  4;  esp.  Ecclus.  xxxix.  28-31. 
There  is  much  likeness  to  the  plagues  of  Egypt  (Ex.  vii.-x.). 

*  Rev.  chap.  xvi. 


THE  APOCALYPSE.  331 

"Yes,  Lord  God  Almighty,  thy  judgments  are  true 
and  just."  ^ 

The  fourth  angel  pours  his  bowl  upon  the  sun ;  and 
the  sun  burns  men  like  fire.  But  they,  far  from  re- 
penting, blaspheme  God,  who  has  the  power  to  strike 
them  with  such  plagues. 

The  fifth  angel  pours  his  bowl  upon  the  throne  of 
the  Beast  (the  city  of  Rome) ;  and  all  the  kingdom  of 
the  Beast  (the  Roman  Empire)  is  plunged  in  darkness. 
Men  gnaw  their  tongues  for  pain;^  but  instead  of 
repenting,  they  mock  at  the  God  of  heaven. 

The  sixth  angel  pours  his  bowl  upon  the  river 
Euphrates,  which  immediately  dries  up,  so  as  to  pre- 
pare the  way  for  the  coming  of  the  kings  of  the  East.^ 
Then  from  the  mouth  of  the  Dragon  (Satan),  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Beast  (Nero),  and  from  the  mouth  of  the 
False  Prophet  (?)  come  forth  three  foul  spirits  like  frogs 
(a  sign  of  sorcery  and  magic),*  spirits  of  demons  who 
work  miracles.  These  three  spirits  go  in  search  of  the 
kings  of  all  the  earth,  and  bring  them  together  for  the 
battle  of  the  great  day  of  God.  "  Behold,"  says  Jesus, 
"  I  come  as  a  thief.  Blessed  is  he  that  watches  and  keeps 
his  garments,  lest  he  go  about  naked  and  his  shame 
be  seen."  ^  They  gather,  accordingly,  in  a  place  whose 
Hebrew  name  is  Armageddon.  The  general  thought  of 
all  this  is  plain.  The  Seer,  as  we  have  seen,  adopts 
the  opinion  universally  held  in  Asia,  that  Nero,  after 
escaping  from  Phaon's  villa,  had  taken  refuge  with 
the  Parthians,  and  would  return  from  among  them  to 

1  Comp.  "  Wisdom"  xi.  15,  16;  xvi.  1,  9;  xvii.  2,  3. 

2  Wisd.  xvii.  2,  3. 

8  Comp.  Isa.  xi.  15,  16 ;  Carm.  Sibyll  iv.  137-139. 

*  Artemidorus,  Onirocrit.  ii.  15. 

6  Rev.  xvi.  15 ;  comp.  Matt.  xxiv.  42 ;  Luke  xii.  37-39. 


332  ANTICHRIST, 

crush  his  enemies.  It  was  believed,  with  some  show  of 
reason/  that  the  Parthian  princes  (ArsacidaB),  friends 
of  Nero  during  his  reign,  sustained  him  still ;  in  fact, 
their  court  was  the  refuge  of  false  Neros  for  more  than 
twenty  years.^  All  this  appears  to  the  writer  of  the 
Apocalypse  an  infernal  plan,^  conceived  between  Satan, 
Nero,  and  some  person  figured  by  the  second  beast. 
These  creatures  of  Hell  are  busied  somewhere  in  the 
East  with  forming  a  league,  whose  army  will  soon  pass 
the  Euphrates,  and  crush  the  Roman  Empire.  What 
especial  enigma  there  may  be  in  the  name  Armageddon 
is  to  us  undecipherable.* 

The  seventh  angel  pours  out  his  bowl  upon  the  air, 
and  a  cry  comes  from  the  altar,  "  It  is  done  !  "  There 
are  lightnings,  voices,  thunders,  and  an  earthquake, 
"  such  as  was  not,  since  men  were  upon  the  earth,  so 
mighty  an  earthquake  and  so  great."  In  consequence 
of  it,  the  great  city  (Jerusalem)  ^  is  broken  in  three 
parts  ;  the  cities  of  the  nations  fall ;  and  the  great 
Babylon  (Rome)  comes  into  God's  remembrance,  and  is 
now  to  be  compelled  to  drink  "  the  cup  of  the  wine  of 
the  fierceness  of  his  wrath."  The  islands  disappear, 
the  mountains  are  no  longer  seen ;  hailstones  of  a  hun- 
dred-weight ^  fall  upon  men,  so  that  they  "  curse  God 

1  Suet.  Nero,  57. 

2  Tac.  Hist.  i.  2  ;  Suet.  Nero,  57 ;  Zonaras,  xi.  18. 
8  Comp.  1  Kings  xxii.  20-23. 

*  No  doubt  an  allusion  to  "  Hadad-rimmon,"  and  "  Megiddo  '*  in  Zech. 
xii.  11.  Some  special  place  is  probably  had  in  mind,  we  cannot  tell  what. 
The  explanation  nSnan  HDnn  (ha-roma-gedol  "the  great  Rome")  is 
unlikely.  Almost  all  the  historic  battles  in  Palestine  were  fought  near 
Megiddo  (Judges  v.  19;  2  Kings  xxiii.  29;  Zech.  I.  c). 

^  Comp.  Rev.  xi.  8;  also  the  contrast  with  "cities  of  the  nations." 
Besides,  Rome  would  hardly  be  indicated  in  the  same  verse  by  two 
different  names. 

®  A  talent-weight  is  110  pounds.  —  Ed. 


THE  APOCALYPSE.  333 

because  of  the  plague  of  the  hail,  for  the  plague  thereof 
was  exceeding  great."  ^ 

The  series  of  preludes  is  now  finished,  and  it  only 
remains  to  unveil  the  Divine  Judgment.  The  Seer 
introduces  us  first  to  the  condemnation  of  the  guiltiest 
of  all,  the  city  of  Rome.^  One  of  the  seven  angels  who 
have  poured  the  bowls  of  wrath  upon  the  earth  ap- 
proaches John  and  says,  "  Come,  and  I  will  show  you 
the  judgment  of  the  great  Enchantress  who  sits  upon 
many  waters,^  with  whom  the  kings  of  the  earth  have 
done  iniquity,*  and  who  has  made  the  world  drunk  with 
the  wine  of  her  adulteries.'*  Then  John  sees  a  Woman 
seated  upon  a  monster  like  at  every  point  to  that 
which  came  out  of  the  sea,  whose  entire  figure  rep- 
resented the  Roman  Empire,  and  one  of  its  heads  the 
emperor  Nero.  The  monster  is  scarlet,  covered  with 
names  of  blaspliemy,  having  seven  heads  and  ten 
horns.  The  Woman  wears  the  garb  of  her  profession 
as  courtesan ;  she  is  clad  in  purple  and  scarlet,  glitter- 
ing with  wrought  gold  (xpva-Lco),  precious  stones,  and 
pearls ;  and  bears  in  her  hand  a  golden  drinking-cup, 
full  of  the  abominations  and  impurities  of  her  prostitu- 
tion. On  her  forehead  is  written  a  name  of  mystery : 
"  Babylon  the  Great,  mother  of  harlots  and  of  the 
abominations  of  the  earth." 

And  I  saw  the  woman  drunken  with  the  blood  of  the  saints, 
and  with  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  of  Jesus.  And  I  wondered 
with  great  wonder.  And  the  angel  said  to  me,  "  Why  do  you 
wonder  ?    I  will  tell  you  the  meaning  of  the  woman  and  of 

1  Rev.  xvi.  17-21.  2  p^ev.  chap.  xvii. 

8  Originally  said  of  Babylon  (Jer.  li.  13),  but  afterwards  applied 
metaphorically  to  Rome. 

*  The  Herods,  Tiridates  king  of  Armenia,  and  others,  eager  to  visit 
Rome,  give  banquets  there,  and  make  their  court  to  her. 


334  ANTICHRIST. 

the  beast  that  carries  her.  The  beast  which  you  have  seen 
was,  and  is  no  more ;  and  it  must  come  up  again  from  the 
Pit,^  then  go  into  perdition ;  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth 
whose  names  are  not  written  in  the  book  of  life  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  world  will  be  full  of  consternation  in  seeing 
the  beast  reappear,  which  had  been  and  was  no  more.  Here 
it  needs  a  mind  that  has  understanding.  The  seven  heads 
are  the  seven  hills  on  which  the  woman  dwells.  They  repre- 
sent also  seven  kings ;  five  of  these  are  fallen,  and  one  now 
reigns ;  the  other  is  not  yet  come,  and  when  he  comes  he  will 
continue  but  a  little  time.^  The  beast  which  was  and  is  no 
more  is  the  eighth  king,  and  at  the  same  time  one  of  the 
seven,  and  goes  straight  to  destruction.  And  the  ten  horns 
which  you  have  seen  are  ten  kings,  who  have  not  yet  received 
a  kingdom,  but  receive  for  one  hour  authority  as  of  kings, 
sharing  it  with  the  Beast.  These  all  have  one  purpose,  and 
yield  up  their  power  and  authority  to  the  Beast.  They  will 
make  war  upon  the  Lamb,  and  the  Lamb  will  conquer  them ; 
for  he  is  Lord  of  lords  and  King  of  kings ;  and  those  who  are 
called  and  chosen  with  him,  his  faithful  ones,  will  conquer 
likewise."  And  he  added,  "  The  waters  which  you  have 
seen,  on  which  the  Harlot  sits,  are  the  peoples  and  nations 
and  races  and  tongues.  And  the  ten  horns  which  you  have 
seen,  and  ^  the  Beast  itself,  will  hate  the  Harlot,  and  make 
her  naked  and  desolate,  and  will  devour  her  flesh,  and  burn 
her  with  fire.*  For  God  has  put  it  in  their  hearts  to  fulfil  his 
purpose,  and  to  combine  together,  and  to  give  their  royal 
power  to  the  Beast,  until  the  will  of  God  shall  be  accom- 
plished. And  the  Woman  whom  you  have  seen  is  the  great 
City  which  has  royal  power  over  the  kings  of  the  earth." 

This  is  quite  clear.     The  Harlot  is  Rome,  which  has 

1  Comp.  xi.  7:  a^va-a-os,  "the  abyss,"  the  abode  of  devils,  not  of  the 
dead. 

2  Comp.  Assumption  of  Moses,  7:  see  Hilgenfeld,  Nov.  Test,  extra  cano- 
nem,  i.  113,  114. 

8  The  reading  of  the  Alexandrian  and  Sinaitic,  etc.,  instead  of  "  on." 
*  Signifying  plunder  and  conflagration. 


THE  APOCALYPSE.  335 

corrupted  the  earth,^  has  employed  its  power  to  extend 
and  strengthen  idolatry,^  has  persecuted  the  saints,  has 
shed  in  streams  the  blood  of  martyrs.  The  Beast  is 
Nero,  who  has  been  thought  dead,  but  will  return, 
though  his  second  reign  will  be  short  and  his  ruin 
complete.  The  seven  heads  have  a  twofold  meaning : 
they  are  the  seven  hills  on  which  Rome  is  seated ;  but, 
and  above  all,  they  are  the  seven  emperors  down  to 
and  including  Galba.^  The  first  five  are  dead ;  Galba 
reigns  for  the  time,  but  he  is  old  and  weak,  and  his 
power  will  soon  pass  away.  The  sixth,  Nero,  who  is 
at  the  same  time  the  Beast  itself  and  one  of  the  seven 
kings,*  is  not  really  dead ;  he  will  reign  again,  but  for 
a  short  time,  —  not  more  than  three  years  and  a  half, 
thinks  the  writer;  thus  he  will  be  the  eighth,  then 
will  perish.  The  ten  horns  are  the  proconsuls  and 
imperial  legates,  who  are  not  real  kings,^  but  receive 
their  power  from  the  emperor  for  a  'limited  time  {j^iav 
ojpav),  govern  after  the  same  policy,  which  comes  to 
them  from  Rome,  and  are  wholly  subject  to  the  empire, 
from  which  they  hold  their  power.  These  partial  kings 
bear  equal  malice  with  Nero  himself  against  the  Chris- 
tians.*^  Since  they  represent  provincial  interests,  they 
will  humble  Rome,  and  take  from  her  the  right  to  dis- 
pose of  the  empire,  which  she  has  held  till  now ;  ^  they 
will  abuse  her,  set  fire  to  her,  and  share  her  ruins 

1  See  Carm.  Sihyll  iii.  182,  356 ;  v.  161  et  seq. 

2  Comp.  the  two  hagadas  on  the  origin  of  Rome:  Jerus.  Talm.,  Aboda 
zara,  1,3;  Sifrd,  sect.  Ekeh^  52;  Bab.  Talm.,  Shabbathj  66,6;  Midrash, 
Shir  hasshirim,  i.  6. 

«  See  pp.  317,  321. 

*  Rev.  xvii.  11. 

*  See  the  use  of  dux  in  the  Midrash  rabba,  Eka^  1,  5. 

*  See  Commodian,  v.  864. 
T  Tac.  Hist.  i.  4. 


336  ANTICHRIST, 

among  themselves.^  Meanwhile,  God  does  not  yet  de- 
sire the  dismembering  of  the  empire.  He  puts  it  into 
the  minds  of  the  provincial  military  chiefs,  and  of  all 
those  who  in  turn  control  the  destiny  of  the  empire,  — 
Vindex,  Yerginius,  Nymphidius  Sabinus,  Galba,  Macer, 
Capito,  Otho,  Vitellius,  Mucian,  Vespasian,  —  to  agree 
in  the  policy  of  restoring  the  Empire ;  and,  instead  of 
making  themselves  independent  of  it  (which  to  a  Jew- 
ish writer  seemed  the  more  natural  thing),  to  do  hom- 
age for  their  royalty  to  the  Beast.^ 

We  see  how  deeply  this  manifesto  from  the  head  of 
the  churches  in  Asia  enters  into  the  spirit  of  a  situa- 
tion which,  to  fancies  so  impressible  as  those  of  the 
Jews,  must  needs  be  strange.  Nero,  in  fact,  by  his 
exceptional  guilt  and  madness,  had  thrown  men's  rea- 
son off  its  balance.  The  Empire,  at  his  death,  was  like 
an  estate  without  heirs.  After  the  murder  of  Caligula 
there  was  still  a  republican  party  left,  and,  besides,  the 
adoptive  family  of  Augustus  retained  its  full  prestige ; 
while,  after  the  death  of  Nero,  there  was  almost  no 
republican  party  whatever,  and  the  Augustan  family 
was  extinct.  The  Empire  was  in  the  hands  of  eight  or 
ten  generals,  who  held  high  commands.  The  writer  of 
the  Apocalypse,  knowing  nothing  of  the  Koman  State, 
wonders  that  the  ten  chiefs,  who  seem  to  him  kings,  do 
not  declare  themselves  independent,  —  that  they  agree 
in  one  policy ;  ^  and  attributes  this  to  a  special  act  of 

1  The  project  of  starving  the  capital  was  entertained,  says  Josephus 
{Wars^  iv.  10:  5),  in  the  party  of  Mucian. 

2  In  xvii.  13  ("  give  their  power  to  the  Beast "),  the  writer  seems  to 
imagine  that  the  generals  of  the  different  provinces  will  combine  for  the 
restoration  of  Nero.  The  reigns  of  Otho  and  Vitellius  were,  in  fact,  reac- 
tions in  Nero's  favour. 

*  Iloi^crat  \iiav  yv(i>\ir\v'.  Rev.  xvii.  13,  17. 


THE  APOCALYPSE.  337 

the  divine  will.  Evidently  the  Jews  of  the  East  — 
who  had  been  for  two  years  oppressed  by  the  Roman 
power,  and  now  felt  their  burden  lighter  since  Nero's 
death,  because  Mucian  and  Vespasian  were  occupied 
with  general  affairs  of  State  —  believed  that  the  Empire 
was  about  to  dissolve,  and  were  in  triumph  for  a  while. 
This  was  not  so  superficial  a  view  as  it  might  seem. 
Tacitus,  in  sketching  the  events  of  the  year  just  before 
the  Apocalypse  was  written,^  calls  it  "  very  nearly  the 
last  year  of  the  republic."  ^  It  was  a  great  surprise  to 
the  Jews  when  they  saw  the  "  ten  kings "  return  to 
the  Beast  (the  unity  of  the  Empire)  and  lay  their  king- 
doms at  his  feet.  They  had  hoped  that  the  independ- 
ence of  the  "  ten  kings "  would  result  in  the  ruin  of 
Rome.  Hostile  as  they  were  themselves  to  a  great  cen- 
tral organisation  of  the  State,  they  supposed  that  the 
proconsuls  and  legates  must  hate  Rome  also.  Judging 
them  by  themselves,  they  supposed  that  these  power- 
ful chiefs  would  act  like  Satraps,  or  else  like  Hyrca- 
nus  or  Jannaeus,^  —  kings  who  destroyed  their  enemies. 
Like  jealous  provincials,  they  at  least  gloated  over  the 
great  humiliation  endured  by  the  queen-city  of  the 
earth,  when  the  right  of  creating  sovereigns  passed 
over  to  the  provinces ;  when  Rome  received  within 
her  walls  masters  whom  she  had  not  the  first  voice  in 
proclaiming. 

How  far,  then,  was  the  Apocalypse  connected  with 
that  strange  episode  of  the  false  Nero,  which  stirred 
all  hearts  in  Asia  and  the  Grecian  isles*  at  the  very 
moment  when   the  Seer  of   Patmos  wrote  ?     Such  a 

1  Tac.  Eist.  i.  11.  2  Comp.  Jos.  Wars,  iv.  11:  5. 

8  See  "  History  of  the  People  of  Israel,"  iv.  239,  240;  v.  96-115.  — Ed. 

*  See  pages  280,  281,  ante. 

22 


338  ANTICHRIST, 

coincidence  is  surely  most  remarkable.  Cythnos  and 
Patmos  are  only  a  hundred  and  twenty  miles  apart, 
and  news  travels  fast  in  the  Archipelago.  The  days 
when  the  Christian  prophet  wrote  were  those  when  the 
impostor  was  most  talked  about,  enthusiastically  hailed 
by  some,  and  watched  with  terror  by  others.  I  have 
shown  that  he  announced  himself  at  Cythnos  in  Janu- 
ary of  69,  or  perhaps  in  December  of  68.  The  centu- 
rion Sisenna,  who  touched  at  Cythnos  early  in  February, 
on  his  way  from  the  East,  whence  he  brought  pledges 
of  agreement  from  the  army  in  Syria  to  the  Pretorians 
at  Rome,  had  some  difficulty  in  escaping  him.  A  few 
days  later,  Calpurnius  Asprenas,  who  had  received  from 
Galba  the  government  of  Galatia  and  Pamphylia,  ar- 
rived at  Cythnos,  accompanied  by  two  galleys  of  the 
fleet  of  Misenum.  Emissaries  of  the  Pretender  tried 
upon  the  captains  of  these  galleys  the  magic  effect  of 
Nero's  name ;  and  the  scamp,  affecting  an  air  of  sad- 
ness, appealed  to  the  fidelity  of  those  who  had  once 
been  "  his  soldiers."  He  entreated  them  to  convey 
him,  at  least,  to  Syria  or  Egypt,  on  which  he  rested 
his  hopes.  The  captains,  whether  by  cunning  or  from 
hesitation,  asked  for  time.  Asprenas  heard  all,  seized 
the  impostor  by  surprise,  and  put  him  to  death.  His 
body  was  carried  to  Asia,  then  to  Rome,  so  as  to  con- 
fute those  of  his  partisans  who  might  raise  doubts  of 
his  death.^  Might  it  be  that  this  poor  wretch  was  al- 
luded to  in  the  words,  "  the  Beast  which  you  see  was, 
and  is  no  more ;  he  will  come  forth  from  the  Pit,  and 
run  swiftly  to  his  end ;  the  other  king  is  not  yet  come, 
and  when  he  shall  come  he  will  not  continue  long"  ?^ 

1  Tac.  Hht.  ii.  8,  9. 

2  Rev.  xvii.  8,  10,  11.    Compare  the  expressions  of  ver.  8  with  those 


THE  APOCALYPSE,  339 

It  is  possible.  The  monster  rising  from  the  Pit  would 
be  a  lively  image  of  the  ephemeral  power  which  the 
sagacious  historian  discerned,  not  far  from  Patmos,  ap- 
pearing upon  the  sea-horizon.  We  cannot  speak  con- 
fidently of  this :  the  general  opinion  that  Nero  was  in 
hiding  among  the  Parthians  is  enough  to  explain  every- 
thing. But  this  opinion  did  not  prevent  belief  in  the 
false  Nero  of  Cythnos ;  since  it  might  be  supposed  that 
his  appearing  was  really  the  return  of  the  "  monster," 
coincident  with  the  crossing  of  the  Euphrates  by  his 
Eastern  allies.^  In  any  case,  it  seems  to  me  impossible 
that  these  passages  should  have  been  written  after  the 
false  Nero  was  put  to  death  by  Asprenas.  The  sight 
of  the  impostor's  body,  conveyed  from  town  to  town, 
and  the  view  of  his  features  pallid  in  death,  would 
have  confuted  too  plainly  the  apprehensions  of  the 
Beast's  return,  which  has  such  a  hold  upon  the  writer's 
mind.^  I  fully  admit,  then,  that  John  at  Patmos  had 
knowledge  of  the  events  at  Cythnos,^  and  that  the 
effect  produced  on  him  by  these  strange  rumours  was 
the  chief  occasion  of  the  letter  he  wrote  to  the  churches 
of  Asia,  to  notify  them  of  the  great  tidings  that  Nero 
was  risen  from  the  dead. 

Interpreting  political  events  in  the  interest  of  his 
own   hate,  the  writer  —  a  Jewish  fanatic  —  has   pre- 

of  Tacitus  in  the  passage  just  referred  to,  and  in  the  note  on  p.  327 
(above). 

1  In  the  two  passages  relating  to  the  Parthian  invasion,  —  the  sixth 
trumpet  and  the  sixth  bowl,  —it  is  not  said  that  Nero  was  with  his  allies, 
but  only  that  the  invasion  was  made  in  concert  with  him. 

^  This  disproves  the  opinion  of  those  who  think  to  find  in  the  Apoca- 
lypse allusions  to  the  final  struggles  of  Otho  and  Vitellius. 

*  The  words  "was  not  yet  come"  (ver.  10)  would  well  fit  the  time 
when  the  impostor,  though  much  talked  of,  had  not  yet  committed  him* 
self  by  any  public  acts. 


340  ANTICHRIST. 

dieted  that  the  provincial  commandants,  whom  he  sup- 
poses to  be  full  of  rancour  against  Rome,  while  to  a 
certain  extent  in  league  with  Nero,  will  ravage  and 
burn  the  city ;  and  then,  assuming  this  to  be  already 
accomplished,  he  chants  the  ruin  of  his  foe.^  For  this, 
he  has  only  to  copy  the  declamations  of  the  old  proph- 
ets against  Babylon  or  Tyre.^  Israel  has  staked  out, 
so  to  speak,  the  literature  of  malediction.  To  all  the 
great  secular  States,  such  words  as  these  have  been 
spoken :  "  Happy  he  that  shall  repay  to  thee  the  evil 
thou  hast  done !  "  A  shining  angel  comes  down  from 
heaven,  and  cries  in  awful  tones,  "Fallen,  fallen,  is 
Babylon  the  great,  and  is  now  but  the  habitation  of 
devils,^  an  abode  of  unclean  spirits,  a  refuge  of  filthy 
birds ;  because  all  the  earth  has  drunk  of  the  wine  of 
her  fornication,  and  the  kings  of  the  earth  have  defiled 
themselves  with  her,  and  the  merchants  of  the  earth 
have  enriched  themselves  by  her  wealth ! "  Another 
voice  from  heaven  is  heard :  — 

Go  out  of  her,  you  who  are  my  people,  lest  you  make  your- 
selves guilty  of  her  crimes,  and  be  stricken  by  the  plagues 
that  shall  afflict  her !  Her  abominations  have  come  before 
the  face  of  heaven,  and  God  has  taken  note  of  her  iniquities. 
Return  upon  her  what  she  has  done  to  others,  repay  her 
double  for  her  evil  deeds ;  pour  out  to  her  twice  over  the  cup 
which  she  has  poured  out  upon  others !  All  that  she  has  had 
of  glory  and  prosperity,  so  much  shall  be  given  her  of  torment 
and  affliction.  "  I  sit  as  a  Queen,"  she  says ;  "  I  am  no  widow, 
and  I  shall  never  know  what  it  is  to  mourn."  That  is  why 
her  punishment  shall  come  all  in  one  day,  —  death,  desolation, 

^  Rev.  chap,  xviii. 

2  As  examples,  Isa.  xiii.,  xxiii.,  xxiv.,  xxxiv.,  xlvii.,  xlviii.,  lii. ;  Jer. 
xvi.,  XXV.,  li. ;  Ezek.  xxvi.,  xxvii. 

3  That  is,  the  strange  wild  animals  living  in  the  ruins,  which  were 
taken  to  be  evil  demons.     Isa.  xiii.  21;  xxxiv.  14. 


THE  APOCALYPSE.  341 

famine,  and  fire  ;  for  mighty  is  the  God  who  judges  her.  And 
the  kings  of  the  earth  shall  be  seen  weeping  over  her,  they 
who  have  shared  her  uncleanness  and  debaucheries.^  At  the 
sight  of  the  smoke  of  her  conflagration,  the  companions  of  her 
luxury  shall  cry  out,  "  Woe,  woe  ! "  and  hold  themselves  afar 
off  in  terror.  "  What !  the  great,  the  mighty  Babylon  I  In 
one  hour  her  judgment  is  come  upon  her ! "  And  the  mer- 
chants of  the  earth  will  lament,  for  no  one  any  longer  buys 
their  merchandise.  Ornaments  of  gold  and  silver,  precious 
stones,  pearls,  fine  linen,  purple,  silk,  scarlet,  cypress-wood, 
ivory,  brass,  steel,  marble,  cinnamon,  balsam,  perfumes,  aro- 
matic oils,  incense,  wine,  oil,  fine  flour,  wheat,  cattle,  sheep, 
horses,  chariots,  bodies  ^  and  souls  of  men,  —  the  traders  in 
all  these  things,  who  had  gained  wealth  from  her,  keep  far 
away  in  dread  of  her  torments.  "  Woe,  woe  ! "  will  they  say. 
"Alas  !  that  is  the  great  city  which  was  clothed  in  scarlet, 
purple,  and  fine  linen  ;  which  was  adorned  with  gold,  precious 
stones,  and  pearls  !  In  one  hour  so  great  wealth  is  come  to 
naught ! "  And  the  sailors  who  once  came  to  her,  and  all 
who  traffic  by  the  sea,  stand  afar  off  at  the  sight  of  the  smoke 
of  her  burning,  cast  dust  upon  their  heads,  and  break  into 
cries,  weeping,  and  lamentation  :  "  Woe,  woe  ! "  they  say ; 
"  The  great  city,  which  enriched  with  her  treasures  all  who 
had  ships  upon  the  sea,  behold  !  in  one  hour  she  has  been 
turned  into  a  desert ! "  Rejoice  at  her  ruin,  0  heaven ! 
Rejoice,  saints,  apostles,  and  prophets  !  For  God  has  judged 
your  cause,  and  has  given  you  vengeance  upon  her.^ 

Then  an  angel  of  mighty  strength  takes  a  stone 
great  as  a  millstone,  and  casts  it  into  the  sea,  saying,  — 

1  An  allusion  to  the  Herods,  whose  flatteries  of  the  Romans  were 
deeply  wounding  to  the  Jews,  especially  after  the  revolt  of  66. 

2  Slaves  at  sale  were  counted  as  "bodies"  {(CToi\i.a.Ta)\  see  Inscr.  at 
Delphi  {Journ.  asiat.  June,  1868,  530,  531);  Demosth.  In  Ecerg.,  etc.,  11; 
Tob.  X.  10;  2  Mace.  viii.  11 ;  Gen.  xxxvi.  6  (Gr.  vers.);  comp.  Gen.  xii. 
5;  Ezek.  xxvii.  13;  Jos.  Life^  75;  Wescher,  in  Ann.  de  Vassoc.  des  eludes 
grecques,  1872,  88. 

8  Rev.  xviii.  4-20. 


342  ANTICHRIST, 

Thus  with  violence  shall  Babylon,  that  great  city,  be  thrown 
down,  and  no  more  trace  of  her  shall  be  found.  And  the 
sound  of  the  harp  and  of  musicians,  the  sound  of  the  flute 
and  trumpet  shall  be  heard  no  more  within  her  walls;  no 
craftsman  of  any  craft  shall  be  found  in  her ;  and  the  sound 
of  a  millstone  shall  no  more  be  heard  in  her ;  the  light  of  a 
candle  shall  shine  in  her  no  more ;  the  voice  of  the  bride- 
groom and  the  bride  ^  shall  no  more  be  heard.  For  her  mer- 
chants were  the  great  ones  of  the  earth,^  and  by  her  sorceries 
all  nations  were  deceived.  And  in  her  was  found  the  blood 
of  prophets  and  saints,  and  of  all  who  have  been  slain  upon 
the  earth. 3 

The  ruin  of  this  chief  enemy  of  the  people  of  God  is 
the  occasion  of  great  rejoicing  in  heaven.*  A  voice  as 
of  a  countless  multitude  is  heard,  saying,  "  Hallelujah ! 
Salvation,  glory,  and  power  to  our  God !  For  his  judg- 
ments are  just,  and  He  has  judged  the  great  Harlot 
who  has  corrupted  the  earth  by  her  adulteries  \  and  He 
has  avenged  the  blood  of  his  servants  shed  by  her." 
Another  chorus  responds :  "  Hallelujah !  the  smoke  of 
her  burning  rises  up  forever  and  ever."  Then  the 
twenty-four  elders  and  the  four  living  creatures  pros- 
trate themselves  and  do  homage  to  God,  who  sits  upon 
the  throne,  saying,  "  Amen  !  hallelujah  ! "  A  voice 
then  comes  from  the  throne,  singing  the  inaugural 
Psalm  of  the  new  kingdom :  "  Praise  our  God,  all  ye 
who  are  his  servants  and  who  fear  him,  both  small  and 
great."  ^  A  voice  like  that  of  a  multitude,  or  the  voice 
of  many  waters,  or  the  noise  of  loud  thunder,  responds : 

1  Responsive  chants,  as  in  the  Song  of  Solomon,  used  for  popular  song 
in  general. 

2  Not  specially  applicable  to  Rome,  but  taken  from  the  invectives  of 
ancient  prophets  against  Tyre. 

8  Rev.  xviii.  21-24.  *  Ihid.  chap.  xix. 

^  Ps.  cxv.  13;  cxxxiv.  1. 


THE  APOCALYPSE.  343 

"  Hallelujah !  now  reigns  the  Lord  God  Almighty  !  Let 
us  rejoice  and  give  ourselves  up  to  joy,  and  render  to 
him  glory ;  for  this  is  the  marriage-hour  of  the  Lamb/ 
and  his  Bride  (the  Church)  has  made  herself  ready: 
a  robe  of  fine  linen  is  given  for  her  apparel,  clean 
and  white."  The  fine  linen,  the  writer  adds,  is  the 
righteousness  of  the  saints. 

Delivered  now  from  the  presence  of  the  great  Adul- 
teress (Rome),  the  earth  is  ripe  for  the  celestial  mar- 
riage, the  Messiah's  reign.  An  angel  says  to  the  Seer, 
"  Write,  happy  are  they  who  are  bidden  to  the  mar- 
riage-supper of  the  Lamb  !  "  Then  heaven  opens  and 
Christ  —  who  is  here  for  the  first  time  called  by  his 
mystic  name,  the  Word  of  God  —  appears  as  a  con- 
queror,^ mounted  on  a  white  horse.  He  comes  to 
trample  the  wine-press  of  the  wrath  of  God,  to  in- 
augurate for  the  pagans  the  rule  of  the  iron  sceptre. 
His  eyes  flash  fire ;  his  robe  is  stained  with  blood ;  he 
wears  upon  his  head  several  crowns,  with  an  inscription 
in  mysterious  characters.^  From  his  mouth  proceeds  a 
sharp  sword,  to  smite  the  gentiles ;  and  on  his  thigh  is 
written  his  title,  King  of  kings,  Lord  of  lords.  All  the 
heavenly  host  follow  him,  riding  on  white  horses,  and 
clad  in  fine  linen.  We  may  now  look  for  a  peaceful 
triumph,  but  the  time  for  that  is  not  yet.  Though 
Rome  is  destroyed,  yet  the  Roman  world,  represented 
by  Nero,  the  Antichrist,  is  not  annihilated.  An  angel 
standing  in  the  sun  calls  with  a  loud  voice  to  all  the 
birds  flying  in  the  vault  of  heaven,  "  Come,  gather  to 

1  Matt.  xxii.  2-14 ;  xxv.  1-13. 

*  All  these  images  are  taken  from  Isa.  Ixiii.  1-3 ;  Ps.  ii.  9 ;  comp.  Rev. 
i.  16;  vi.  2;  xiv.  19. 

*  The  true  reading  in  ver.  12  seems  to  be  "names"  {ovoyLaTo):  Tisch. 
and  Cod.  Sinait. 


344  ANTICHRIST, 

the  great  feast  of  God ;  come,  eat  the  flesh  of  kings,  of 
captains,  of  mighty  men,  of  horses  and  their  riders,  of 
freemen  and  slaves,  both  small  and  great !  ^  Then  the 
prophet  sees  the  Beast  (Nero)  and  the  kings  of  the  earth 
(generals  of  provinces,  almost  independent)  with  their 
armies,  gathered  to  make  war  upon  him  who  rides  the 
white  horse,  and  his  forces ;  and  the  Beast  is  seized, 
and  with  it  the  False  Prophet,^  who  wrought  miracles 
before  it ;  and  both  are  cast  alive  into  an  ever-burning 
lake  of  fire  and  brimstone.^  Their  armies  are  wholly 
destroyed  by  the  sword  which  proceeds  from  the  mouth 
of  the  rider  of  the  white  horse,  and  the  birds  glut 
themselves  with  their  flesh. 

The  Roman  armies,  the  great  instruments  of  Satan's 
power,  are  now  subdued;  Nero  the  Antichrist,  their 
last  chief,  is  imprisoned  in  hell ;  but  the  Dragon,  the 
old  serpent,  Satan,  still  lives.  We  have  seen  how  he 
was  cast  from  heaven  upon  the  earth ;  *  the  earth  must 
now  be  delivered  from  his  presence.^  An  angel  comes 
down  from  heaven,  holding  the  key  of  the  Pit,  and 
having  a  great  chain  in  his  hand.  He  seizes  the 
Dragon,  binds  him  for  a  thousand  years,  thrusts  him 
into  the  Pit,^  locks  with  the  key  the  entrance  of  the 
Pit,  and  seals  it  with  a  seal.^  The  Devil  will  remain 
in  chains  for  a  thousand  years.  Moral  evil  and  phys- 
ical (which  is  its  consequence)  will  be  suspended,  but 
not  destroyed.  Satan  can  no  longer  deceive  the  nations, 
but  he  is  not  annihilated  for  all  eternity. 

A  judgment-seat  is  set,  to  declare  who  are  those  that 

1  Comp.  Ezek.  xxxix.  17-20.  ^  gee  pp.  322-327. 

8  See  pp.  267,  268.  -*  Rev.  xii.  7,  8. 

fi  Chap.  XX.  «  Jude  6. 
"  Comp.  Bab.  Talm   Giitin^  68  a. 


THE  APOCALYPSE,  345 

shall  share  the  reign  of  a  thousand  years,^  This  is  re- 
served exclusively  for  martyrs.  The  first  place  in  it 
belongs  to  the  souls  of  those  who  were  beheaded  for 
bearing  witness  to  Jesus  and  to  the  word  of  God  (the 
martyrs  of  Nero's  persecution)  ;  then  come  those  who 
have  refused  to  worship  the  Beast  or  his  image,  and 
have  not  received  his  mark  on  their  foreheads,  or  in 
their  hands  (the  confessors  of  Ephesus,  of  whom  the 
Seer  is  one  :  comp.  i.  9).  The  elect  of  this  first  king- 
dom revive  and  reign  with  Christ  a  thousand  years 
upon  the  earth.  Not  that  the  rest  of  mankind  has  dis- 
appeared, or  even  that  the  whole  world  has  become 
Christian.  The  millennium  is  at  the  centre  of  the 
earth,  like  a  little  paradise.  Rome  exists  no  more ; 
Jerusalem  has  taken  its  place  as  the  capital  of  the 
world ;  the  faithful  here  make  a  kingdom  of  priests ;  ^ 
they  serve  God  and  Christ;  there  is  no  longer  any 
great  pagan  empire,  or  civil  power  hostile  to  the 
Church ;  the  nations  come  to  Jerusalem  to  render 
homage  to  the  Messiah,  who  controls  them  by  terror. 
During  these  thousand  years  the  dead,  who  have  no 
part  in  the  first  resurrection,  are  not  alive :  they  wait. 
Those,  then,  who  share  in  the  first  kingdom  have  a 
special  privilege :  over  and  above  eternity  without  end, 
they  have  the  thousand  years  on  earth  with  Jesus.  No 
death  will  ever  touch  them  more. 

When  the  thousand  years  shall  be  fulfilled,  Satan 
will  be  set  free  from  his  prison  for  a  time,  and  evil 
will  begin  again  to  prevail  upon  the  earth.  Satan, 
unchained,  will  again  deceive  the  nations,  driving  them 
from  one  end  of  the  earth  to  the  other  in  frightful 
wars.     Gog  and  Magog  (mythic  personifications  of  bar- 

1  Dan.  vii.  9,  22,  27.  2  jga.  ixi.  6. 


346  ANTICHRIST. 

barian  assaults)  ^  will  lead  to  the  conflict  armies  more 
numerous  than  the  sands  of  the  sea.  The  Church  will 
be,  as  it  were,  drowned  in  this  deluge.  The  barbarians 
will  besiege  the  camp  of  the  saints,  the  beloved  city,  — 
that  is,  Jerusalem,  still  of  earth,  but  altogether  holy, 
where  the  faithful  friends  of  Jesus  are;  but  fire  will 
fall  from  heaven  upon  them  and  consume  them.  Then 
Satan,  who  had  seduced  them,  will  be  cast  into  the 
lake  of  burning  brimstone,  where  already  are  the  Beast 
(Nero)  and  the  False  Prophet,  and  where  all  these  ac- 
cursed ones  will  henceforth  be  tormented  day  and  night 
for  ages  upon  ages. 

The  work  of  the  creation  is  now  finished ;  it  remains 
only  to  proceed  to  the  final  Judgment.^  A  throne  ap- 
pears, shining  white,  and  upon  it  the  Supreme  Judge. 
At  sight  of  him,  heaven  and  earth  flee  away :  there  is 
no  longer  space  for  them.  The  dead,  great  and  small, 
come  to  life.  Death  and  the  Grave  {Sheol)  render  up 
their  prey ;  the  sea,  too,  yields  back  the  drowned,  who 
were  swallowed  up  therein,  and  did  not  go  down  regu- 
larly into  >S%6o/(Hades).^  All  appear  before  the  throne. 
The  great  books  are  brought,  in  which  is  kept  a  strict 

^  The  myth  comes  from  Ezek.  xxxviii.,  xxxix.  Among  certain  tribes 
speaking  Ossetic  [an  Iranian  dialect  of  the  Caucasus],  Gogh  (mountain) 
and  Mugogh  (great  mountain)  denote  two  chief  ranges  of  the  Caucasus; 
and  these  names  came  to  be  applied  to  the  Scythian  populations  near  the 
Black  and  Caspian  seas.  In  Ezekiel  they  personify  Scythian,  or,  in  gen- 
eral, any  barbaric  invasion  (comp.  Koran,  xviii.  94,  95;  xxi.  96).  The 
messianic  application  of  this  geographical  myth  begins  to  appear  in  the 
Sibylline  verses  (iii.  319,  512) ;  still  more  plainly  in  the  Targum  of  Pseudo- 
Jonathan,  or  Jerus.  Targ.,  Levit.  xxvi.  44;  Num.  xi.  27;  comp.  Bab. 
Talm.  Sank.  94  a,  97  b;  Ahoda  zara,  1  6.  See  Zeitsch.  der  d.  m.  G.  1867, 
575. 

2  See  Dan.  vii.  9. 

8  Comp.  Achilles  Tatius,  v.  116,  117  (ed.  Jacobs),  and  the  curious 
mosaic  of  Torcello. 


THE  APOCALYPSE.  347 

account  of  the  actions  of  every  man.^  Another  book, 
too,  is  opened,  —  the  "book  of  life,"  in  which  are  writ- 
ten the  names  of  those  predestinate  to  bliss.  Then  all 
are  judged  according  to  their  works.  Those  whose 
names  are  not  found  written  in  the  book  of  life  are 
cast  down  into  the  lake  of  fire ;  and  into  this  Death 
and  Hell  (Sheol)  are  also  cast.^ 

Now  that  Evil  is  destroyed  without  recovery,  the 
reign  of  absolute  Good  is  about  to  begin.^  The  old 
earth  and  the  old  heaven  have  passed  away;  a  new 
earth  and  a  new  heaven  succeed  to  them,*  and  there  is 
no  more  sea.^  Still,  this  new  earth  and  sky  are  only  a 
renewing  of  the  present  earth  and  sky;  and,  just  as 
Jerusalem  was  the  pearl  and  jewel  of  the  former  earth, 
just  so  Jerusalem  will  be  again  the  radiant  centre  of 
the  new.  The  apostle  sees  this  new  Jerusalem  coming 
down  from  heaven,  from  the  presence  of  God,  arrayed 
like  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband.  A  loud  voice  is 
heard,  coming  from  the  throne :  "  Behold  the  taber- 
nacle wherein  God  will  dwell  with  men ;  and  they  will 
henceforth  be  his  people,  and  he  will  be  always  present 
in  the  midst  of  them.^  And  he  will  wipe  every  tear 
from  their  eyes,  and  there  shall  be  no  more  death,  nor 
sorrow,  or  crying,  or  pain ;  ^  for  the  former  things  are 
passed  away."     Jehovah  himself  speaks,  to  declare  the 

^  Mai.  iii.  16;  Dan.  vii.  10;  Bab.  Talm.  Rosh  has-shana,  16  6. 

2  Comp.  Dan.  vii.  11;  Luke  xvi.  23;  1  Cor.  xv.  26. 

8  Rev.  chap.  xxi. 

*  Comp.  Isa.  Ixv.  17 ;  Ixvi.  22 ;  2  Pet.  iii.  13. 

5  The  sea  [in  this  writer's  view]  blots  out  and  sterilises  a  portion  of 
the  earth,  and  so  is  a  relic  of  the  primal  chaos,  or  a  penalty  inflicted  by 
God,  engulfing  guilty  lands.  It  is  bottomless  {a^vaa-os) ;  now  the  abyss 
is  the  domain  of  Satan  (comp.  xi.  7;  xiii.  1).  In  Paradise  (Gen.  ii.) 
there  was  no  sea:  comp.  Job  vii.  12. 

«  Ezek.  xxxvii.  27;  2  Cor.  vi.  16.  '  Isa.  xxv.  8 ;  Ixv.  19. 


348  ANTICHRIST, 

law  of  this  eternal  world  :  "  It  is  done ;  behold  I  make 
all  things  new.^  I  am  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega,  the 
first  and  the  last.  Him  who  thirsts,  I  will  cause  to 
drink  of  the  fountain  of  life  freely.^  He  that  over- 
comes shall  inherit  all  these  things,  and  I  will  be  his 
God,  and  he  will  be  my  son.^  The  fearful,  the  unbeliev- 
ing, the  abominable,  —  murderers,  fornicators,  sorce- 
rers, idolaters,  liars,  —  their  part  shall  be  in  the  lake 
of  fire  and  brimstone." 

Then  an  angel  draws  near  the  Seer,  and  says,  "  Come, 
I  will  show  you  the  Bride  of  the  Lamb."  And  he  bears 
him  in  spirit  to  a  high  mountain,  from  which  he  shows 
him  in  detail  the  new  Jerusalem,*  filled  and  clothed 
with  the  Divine  glory.  Its  splendour  is  that  of  a  crys- 
tal of  jasper.  In  form  it  is  a  perfect  square,^  with  sides 
of  three  thousand  furlongs,  set  to  the  four  winds  of 
heaven  (the  cardinal  points),  and  surrounded  by  a  wall 
one  hundred  and  forty-four  cubits  high,  pierced  with 
twelve  gateways.  At  each  gate  an  angel  stands  as 
guard,  and  above  it  is  written  the  name  of  one  of  the 
twelve  tribes  of  Israel.  The  foundation  of  the  wall 
consists  of  twelve  layers  of  stones,  and  on  each  shines 
the  name  of  one  of  the  apostles  of  the  Lamb,^  each  suc- 

1  Isa.  xliii.  19 ;  Jer.  xxxi.  22 ;  2  Cor.  v.  17. 

2  Isa.  Iv.  1.  8  2  Sam.  vii.  14. 

4  All  that  follows  IS  taken  from  Ezekiel  xl.,  xlvii.,  xlviii.;  compare 
Herodotus,  i.  178  [the  description  of  Babylon]. 

^  The  word  "  height "  (ver.  16)  must  be  either  a  freak  of  fancy  or  a 
careless  revision.     But  comp.  Bab.  Talm.  Baha  hathra,  75  h. 

*  The  vague  Jewish  fancy  shows  here.  The  writer  is  drawn  on  by  his 
symbols  to  a  picture  unsatisfying  to  the  mind.  The  "  twelve  foundations  " 
are  commonly  understood  as  so  many  sections  of  the  basement  wall,  run- 
ning from  one  gate  to  another.  I  think  it  better  to  put  them  one  above 
another  as  so  many  layers,  each  set  a  little  back  from  that  under  it,  below 
the  wall  proper,  as  almost  necessarily  implied  in  vers.  18-20.  Compare 
the  walls  of  the  haram  at  Jerusalem,  as  shown  by  the  English  excava- 


THE  APOCALYPSE,  349 

cessive  layer  being  adorned  with  precious  stones/  — 
jasper,  sapphire,  chalcedony,  emerald,  sardonyx,  cor- 
nelian, chrysolite,  beryl  (aquamarine),  topaz,  chryso- 
prase,  jacinth,  and  amethyst.  The  wall  itself  is  of 
jasper ;  the  city  pavement,  of  pure  gold,  bright  "  like 
transparent  glass ; "  each  gate  is  composed  of  a  single 
great  pearl.^  There  is  no  temple  in  the  city ;  for  God 
himself  and  the  Lamb  are  its  sanctuary.  The  throne, 
which  the  prophet  at  the  opening  of  his  revelation  saw 
in  heaven,  is  now  in  the  midst  of  the  city,  —  that  is,  at 
the  centre  of  a  humanity  regenerate  and  harmoniously 
reconstructed.  On  this  throne  are  seated  God  and  the 
Lamb.  From  the  foot  of  the  throne  flows  the  river  of 
Life,^  bright  and  clear  as  crystal,  crossing  the  principal 
street.  On  its  border  grows  the  tree  of  life,*  which 
bears  twelve  kinds  of  fruits,  one  in  every  month,  which 
fruits  seem  to  be  reserved  for  Israel,  —  the  leaves  hav- 
ing a  medicinal  virtue  for  the  healing  of  the  nations. 
The  city  has  no  need  of  sun  or  moon  to  light  it ;  ^  for 
the  glory  of  God  makes  it  bright,  and  the  Lamb  is  its 
illumination.  The  nations  will  walk  by  its  light ;  ^  the 
kings  of  the  earth  will  pay  it  the  homage  of  their  own 
glory ;  and  the  gates  will  be  shut  neither  day  nor 
night,  so  great  will  be  the  throng  of  those  who  will 
come  to  bring  their  tribute.  Nothing  unclean  or  foul 
will  enter  there  ;  "^  those  only  will  find  place  in  it  whose 

tions:  Palef^tine  exploration  fund,  No.  4;  also,  Mem.  de  I* Acad,  des  inscr. 
xxvi.  pi.  2,  5;  and  Les  derniers  jours  de  Jerus.,  246.  Observe,  too,  the 
use  of  the  same  word  (OefieKios)  in  Jos.  Antiq.  vii.  14:  10;  viii.  2:  9;  xv. 
11:  3;   Wars,  v.  5:  2,  as  designating  the  substructure  of  the  Temple. 

1  Ex.  xxvii.  17-20;  xxxix.  10-14. 

2  Isa.  liv.  11,  12.  «  Rev  chap.  xxii. 
4  Gen.  ii.  10-14.                                        5  Dan.  vii.  27. 

6  Isa.  Ix.  3,  5-7,  19,  20.  '  Isa.  lii.  1. 


350  ANTICHRIST, 

names  are  written  in  the  Lamb's  book  of  life.  There 
will  be  no  more  religious  division  or  curse ;  ^  the  pure 
worship  of  God  and  the  Lamb  will  bind  all  the  world 
together.  At  every  hour  the  servants  of  God  will  en- 
joy the  Divine  vision,  and  his  name  will  be  written  on 
their  foreheads.  This  blessed  reign  will  last  forever 
and  forever. 

1  Zech.  xiv.  11. 


CHAPTER  XVn. 

LATER  FORTUNES  OF  THE  BOOK.  —  A.  D.  69. 

The  work  ends  with  an  epilogue,  which  opens  thus :  — 

I,  John,  heard  and  saw  all  these  things.  And  when  I  had 
heard  and  seen  them,  I  fell  down  before  the  feet  of  the  angel 
who  sliowed  them  to  me,  to  worship  him.  But  he  said,  "  Do 
not  do  that.  I  am  your  fellow-servant;  we  have  all  one 
master,  —  I,  and  you,  and  your  brothers  the  prophets,  and 
all  those  who  keep  the  words  of  this  book.^  Worship  God.'* 
Then  he  said  to  me,  "  Do  not  seal "  —  that  is,  do  not  keep 
back  —  "the  words  of  the  prophecy  of  this  book,  for  the  time 
is  near.  Let  the  unjust  act  unjustly  still,  and  he  that  is  filthy 
let  him  still  defile  himself;  and  let  the  just  man  continue  to 
do  justice,  and  the  holy  let  him  still  be  holy ! " 

A  voice  far  off,  the  voice  of  Jesus  himself,  is  heard, 
responding  to  this  assurance,  and  confirming  it :  — 

Behold,  I  come  quickly,  and  bring  with  me  the  reward 
which  I  will  bestow  on  every  man  according  to  his  works.^  I 
am  the  Alpha  and  Omega^  the  first  and  last,  the  beginning  and 
the  end.  Happy  are  they  who  make  clean  their  garments  !  ^ 
They  will  have  right  to  the  tree  of  life,  and  will  enter  by  the 
gates  into  the  city.  But  without  are  dogs  [pagans],  sorcerers, 
the  impure  in  life,  murderers,  idolaters,  and  all  who  love  or 
commit  falsehood.  I,  Jesus,  have  sent  my  messenger  to  tes- 
tify these  things  to  you  in  the  churches.     Happy  are  they  who 

1  A  caution  against  those  who,  like  the  Essenes,  exaggerate  angel- 
worship. 

2  Isa.  xl.  10. 

*  The  reading  here  adopted  by  the  author. 


352  ANTICHRIST. 

keep  the  words  of  the  prophecy  of  this  book !     I  am  the  stem 
and  offshoot  of  David,  the  bright  star  of  the  morning.^ 

Here  the  voices  from  heaven  and  from  earth  inter- 
mingle, and  come  in  softer  strain  to  a  cadence  in  per- 
fect harmony :  — 

"  Come ! "  say  the  Spirit  and  the  Bride.^  And  let  him  who 
hears  the  call  say  also,  "  Come !  '*  Let  every  one  that  thirsts 
come  !     Let  him  who  will  take  the  water  of  life  freely. 

I  myself  [says  the  Revealer]  testify  to  every  one  who  hears 
the  words  of  the  prophecy  contained  in  this  book,  that  if  any 
shall  add  anything  to  them,  God  will  lay  on  him  all  the 
plagues  that  are  written  here.  And  if  any  shall  take  away 
from  the  words  of  the  book  of  this  prophecy,  God  will  take 
from  him  his  share  of  the  tree  of  life  and  of  the  holy  city,  of 
which  it  is  written  in  this  book.^ 

He  who  testifies  of  these  things  repeats,  "Yes,  I  come 
quickly."     Even  so,  come.  Lord  Jesus. 

The  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  all. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  Book  of  Visions 
made  a  very  deep  impression  on  the  churches  of  Asia, 
communicated  as  it  was  under  the  most  venerated 
name  of  the  Christian  world.  A  multitude  of  details, 
now  grown  obscure,  were  clear  to  the  mind  of  that 
time.  These  bold  predictions  of  a  coming  convulsion 
had  nothing  to  cause  surprise.  Discourses  just  as 
formal,  ascribed  to  Jesus,*  were  in  daily  circulation, 
and  were  accepted  in  good  faith.  Besides,  throughout 
a  year,  public  events  might  seem  marvellously  to  con- 
firm the  book.  Toward  the  first  of  February,  the 
death  of  Galba  and  accession  of  Otho  were  reported  in 

^  Isa.  xi.  1. 

2  The  spirit  of  prophecy  in  the  Church,  and  the  Church  herself. 

8  Deut.  iv.  2.  *  Matt.  xxiv. 


LATER  FORTUNES  OF  THE  BOOK.  353 

Asia.  Every  succeeding  day  brought  some  evident 
sign  of  the  decay  of  imperial  power.  All  the  provinces 
well  knew  that  Otho  was  powerless ;  that  Vitellius  held 
his  title  against  Rome  and  the  Senate ;  that  two  bloody 
battles  had  been  fought  at  Bedriacum ;  ^  that  Otho  was 
defeated  in  his  turn,  and  Vespasian  was  victorious; 
that  a  fight  had  taken  place  in  the  Roman  streets, 
during  which  the  Capitol  was  set  on  fire;  and  that 
from  this  conflagration  many  inferred  that  the  destinies 
of  Rome  were  drawing  to  an  end.  All  this  would 
appear  wonderfully  to  confirm  the  gloomy  predictions 
of  the  prophet.  Believers  in  them  only  began  to  be 
undeceived  when  Jerusalem  was  taken,  the  Temple 
destroyed,  and  the  Flavian  dynasty  set  firmly  on  the 
throne.  But  religious  faith  never  accepts  the  refuta- 
tion of  its  hopes.  Then,  too,  the  book  was  obscure, 
and  much  of  it  might  be  variously  explained.  And 
thus,  within  a  few  years  of  its  publication,  a  meaning 
was  sought  for  several  portions  quite  different  from 
what  the  writer  had  put  into  them.  He  had  foretold 
that  the  Roman  empire  would  not  be  re-established,  and 
that  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem  would  not  be  destroyed. 
Some  way  of  escape  must  be  found  from  these  two 
misreadings  of  the  event.  The  reappearance  of  Nero 
was  not  so  quickly  despaired  of ;  even  under  Trajan, 
thirty  years  later,  some  of  the  common  people  still 
thought  he  would  return.^  The  "  number  of  the  Beast " 
long  survived ;  and  a  variant  was  current  in  western 
lands  to  adjust  the  figure  to  Latin  ways  of  thinking. 
Some  copies  gave  616  instead  of  666,^  corresponding  to 

1  In  Italy.    In  the  first,  Otho  was  defeated  by  Vitellius ;  in  the  second, 
Vitellius  by  Vespasian.  — Ed. 

2  Dion  Chrys.  Oral.  xxi.  10.  »  Iren.  v.  30 :  1. 

28 


354  ANTICHRIST. 

the  Latin  form  Nero  instead  of  Neron  —  the  Hebrew 
nun  standing  for  50. 

During  the  first  three  centuries  the  general  sense  of 
the  book  was  retained,  at  least  among  some  few  of 
the  initiated.  The  writer  of  the  Sibylline  poem  dating 
not  far  from  the  year  80  had  heard  of  the  vision  of 
Patmos,  if  he  had  not  read  it.  He  lived  amidst  an 
order  of  ideas  very  similar.  He  knows  the  meaning  of 
the  sixth  "  bowl."  To  him  Nero  is  the  Anti-Messiah ; 
the  monster  has  taken  refuge  beyond  the  Euphrates, 
and  will  come  ba'ck  with  thousands  of  armed  men.^ 
The  writer  of  the  *'  Apocalypse  of  Esdras,"  of  date  from 
96  to  98,  is  well  known  to  have  imitated  John's  Apoca- 
lypse,^ and  to  have  employed  his  symbolic  method,  his 
notations,  and  his  style.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the 
^'  Ascension  of  Isaiah,"  a  work  of  the  second  century, 
in  which  Nero,  an  incarnation  of  Belial,  plays  a  part 
which  shows  that  the  writer  knew  "  the  number  of  the 
Beast."  ^  The  writers  of  Sibylline  verses  dating  at  the 
time  of  the  Antonines  (about  160)  see  just  as  clearly 
the  enigmas  of  the  apostolic  manifesto,  and  accept  its 
dreams  of  the  future,  even  those  which,  like  the  return 
of  Nero,  events  had  fully  disproved.*  Justin  and  Melito 
seem  to  have  almost  completely  understood  the  book. 
The  same  may  be  said  of  Commodian  (about  250), 
who  mingles  foreign  elements  in  his  exposition,  but 
never  an  instant  doubts  that  Nero  the  Antichrist  is  to 
return   from  Hell,  to  maintain    a   final   conflict   with 

1  Carm.  Sihyll.  iv.  117,  137-139. 

2  Thus,  compare  4  Esdr.  iv.  36  et  seq.  with  Rev.  vi.  9-11 ;  vii.  32  with 
Rev.  XX.  13;  x.  50  et  seq.  with  Rev.  xxi.  2-4.     See  also  xv.  5. 

8  A  seen,  of  Isaiah^  iv.  2  et  seq. 

4  Carm.  Sibyll.  v.  28,  93,  105,  142  et  seq.,  363;  viii.  151, 169  et  seq.     See 
above,  p.  257,  n.  1 ;  and  comp.  iii.  397. 


LATER  FORTUNES  OF  THE  BOOK.  355 

Christianity,^  and  conceives  the  destruction  of  Rome- 
Babylon  just  as  it  was  conceived  two  centuries  before.^ 
Finally,  Victorinus  of  Pettau^  comments  very  justly  on 
the  Apocalypse,  understanding  fully  that  Antichrist  is 
Nero  risen  from  the  dead.*  The  number  of  the  Beast 
was  probably  lost  sight  of  before  the  end  of  the  second 
century.  Irenseus  (about  190)  is  grossly  mistaken  about 
this,  as  well  as  some  other  points  of  greater  impor- 
tance ;  and  opens  the  series  of  chimerical  comments 
and  arbitrary  symbolism,^  making  the  strongest  reason 
for  distrusting  his  relations  with  those  who  had  seen 
the  apostle  John.®  Several  subtile  points,  such  as  the 
meaning  of  the  False  Prophet,  and  of  Armageddon, 
were  early  lost. 

When  the  Empire  and  the  Church  were  reconciled, 
under  Constantine,  the  position  of  the  Apocalypse  was 
gravely  compromised.  The  Greek  and  Latin  theologi- 
ans, who  no  longer  separated  the  destinies  of  Chris- 
tianity from  those  of  the  Empire,  could  not  accept  as 
inspired  a  seditious  book,  whose  mainspring  was  hatred 
of  Rome  and  the  prediction  of  its  downfall.  Almost 
all  the  enlightened  portion  of  the  Eastern  Church, 
having  received  a  Grecian  culture,  declared  the  book 
apocryphal.^     The  book  had  come  to  be  so  firmly  fixed 

1  Instr.  acrost.  41,  42:  36;  Carm.  816,  831,  845,  862,  878,  903  et  seq.; 
Pitra,  Spic.  Sol.  i.  (see  emendations  of  Ebert  in  Ahhandl.  der  phil.  hist, 
classe  der  sacks.  Gesells.  der  Wiss.  v.  325). 

2  Commod.  Carm.  ver.  907  et  seq. 

*  In  Pannonia,  d.  A.  D.  303. —  Ed. 

*  Bib.  max.  pair.  i.  580. 
fi  Iren.  v.  30:  3. 

«  Commodian,  in  his  Instructiones,  also  calls  the  Antichrist  Latinus. 
Hippolytus  (7)e  Antichristo,  50,  52),  is  quite  out  of  the  way. 

7  See  "  Life  of  Jesus,"  p.  290,  n.  3 ;  also,  pp.  295,  296,  above.  Dio- 
nysius  of  Alexandria,  in  the  third  century,  —  swayed,  doubtless,  by  his 


356  ANTICHRIST. 

in  the  Greek  and  Latin  Testament  —  the  Syrian  and 
Armenian  did  not  contain  it  —  that  it  could  not  be 
displaced ;  and,  to  clear  it  of  the  objections  it  raised, 
recourse  was  had  to  strange  feats  of  exegesis.  The 
evidence,  however,  was  overwhelming.  The  Latins, 
less  hostile  to  millenarianism,  still  identified  Antichrist 
with  Nero.^  Until  the  time  of  Charlemagne,  there  was 
a  sort  of  tradition  as  to  this.  Saint  Beatus  of  Liebana, 
who  wrote  on  the  Apocalypse  in  786,  asserts  (with 
more  than  one  inconsequence)  that  the  "  Beast "  of 
chapters  xiii.  and  xvii.,  who  is  to  reappear  at  the  head 
of  ten  kings  to  annihilate  the  city  of  Rome,  is  Nero 
the  Antichrist.  At  one  moment,  even,  he  barely  misses 
a  point  which,  in  our  century,  has  conducted  critics  to 
the  true  reckoning  of  the  emperors,  and  the  right  fixing 
of  the  date.^ 

It  is  not  until  about  the  twelfth  century,  when  the 
Middle  Age  is  astray  in  the  paths  of  scholastic  ration- 
alism, with  little  care  for  the  tradition  of  the  Fathers, 
that  the  meaning  of  John's  vision  is  completely  dis- 

literary  training,  —  speaks  of  the  Apocalypse  in  a  hesitating  tone,  con- 
fessing that  he  does  not  at  all  understand  it  (see  Epiph.  li.  32,  33 ;  Euseb. 
vii.  25).     Chrysostom  has  no  homilies  on  the  book. 

^  Victoriniis  of  Pettau  {Bihl.  etc.,  iii.  418),  Lactantius  (JnsU  vii.  14- 
20;  Demon,  persec.  2),  Sulp.  Sev.  (Hist,  sacra,  ii.  28,  29;  Dial.  ii.  14). 
By  these  writers  the  early  theory  of  Antichrist  is  altered  as  in  the  Carmen 
of  Commodian.  Comp.  Aug.  De  civ.  Dei,  xx.  19;  Jerome,  in  Dan.  xi.  o6; 
in  Isaiam,  xvii.  12;  Chrys.  in  2  Thess.  ii.  {0pp.  xi.  529,  530).  Read 
Malvenda,,  De  Antichristo,  lib.  vi.  De  viliis  Antichr.;  it  is  a  veritable  por- 
trait of  Nero. 

2  The  text  of  Saint  Beatus,  as  edited  by  Florez  (Madrid,  1770),  can 
hardly  be  found.  Didot  has  collated  the  most  important  portions  of  his 
commentary  with  the  sole  copy  of  Florez  in  Paris,  in  the  hands  of  M. 
I'abbe  Nolte,  and  with  two  important  manuscripts,  one  of  which  belongs 
to  him.  Des  apocalypses  Jigurees  manuscrites  el.  xylographiques  (Paris,  1870), 
pp.  3,  16,  17,  24,  2o(  76,  77;  ed.  Florez,  438,  498. 


LATER  FORTUNES  OF  THE  BOOK,  357 

torted,  yet  not  wholly  lost.^  Joachim  of  Floris  may 
be  regarded  as  the  first  who  boldly  carried  the  Apoca- 
lypse into  the  limitless  field  of  fancy,  and  sought  to 
find  the  secret  of  the  entire  future  of  mankind  in  the 
strange  figures  of  a  book  written  for  a  special  end, 
whose  horizon  does  not  extend  beyond  three  and  a  half 
years. 

The  wildly  fanciful  commentaries  that  have  resulted 
from  this  false  notion  have  cast  unmerited  discredit  on 
the  book  itself.  Thanks  to  a  sounder  exegesis,  the 
x\pocalypse  has  in  our  own  day  regained  the  high  posi- 
tion which  belongs  to  it  in  sacred  Scripture.  It  is,  in 
a  sense,  the  seal  of  prophecy,  the  last  word  of  Israel. 
Read  in  the  ancient  prophets  ^  the  description  of  "  the 
day  of  Jehovah,"  —  that  is,  of  that  grand  Assize  which 
the  supreme  Judge  of  human  things  holds  from  time 
to  time  to  restore  the  moral  balance  so  constantly  dis- 
turbed by  men,  —  and  you  will  find  the  germ  of  the 
Vision  of  Patmos.  Every  revolution,  every  historical 
crisis,  was  to  the  imagination  of  the  Jew  —  who  per- 
sisted in  dispensing  with  the  immortality  of  the  soul, 
and  in  demanding  the  establishment  of  a  reign  of  jus- 
tice upon  the  earth  — a  providential  event,  the  prelude 
to  a  far  more  solemn  and  definitive  judgment.  At 
every  such  event  a  prophet  arose,  crying,  "  Sound, 
sound  the  trumpet  in  Zion  !  for  the  day  of  Jehovah 
comes,  —  it  is  at  hand."  ^  The  Apocalypse  is  the 
sequel  and  the  crown  of  that  strange  literature  which 
is  the  peculiar  glory  of  Israel.  Its  writer  is  the  last  of 
the  great  prophets,  inferior  to  those  who  came  before 
only  so  far  as  he  is  their  copyist ;  he  has  the  same  soul 

^  Hist.  I'M.  de  la  France,  xxv.  258. 

2  In  Joel,  for  example,  chap.  ii.  *  Joel  ii.  1. 


358  ANTICHRIST. 

« 

with  thera,  the  same  inspiration.  The  Apocalypse  offers 
the  almost  unique  exhibition  of  an  inspired  imitator,  a 
plagiarist  of  genius.  Excepting  two  or  three  inventions 
of  marvellous  beauty,  which  are  the  writer's  own,  —  in 
particular,  the  episode  of  the  martyr-souls  beneath  the 
altar,^  a  passage  purely  divine,  which  will  forever  abide 
for  the  consolation  of  a  heart  that  suffers  for  its  faith 
or  virtue,  —  the  composition  as  a  whole  is  made  up  of 
passages  borrowed  from  preceding  prophetic  and  apoc- 
alyptic writings  ;  especially  from  Ezekiel,  the  book  of 
Daniel,  and  the  two  Isaiahs.  The  Christian  Seer  is  the 
true  disciple  of  these  great  men ;  he  knows  their  writ- 
ings by  heart,  and  draws  from  them  their  final  conse- 
quences. He  is  a  brother  of  that  marvellous  poet  of 
the  time  of  the  Captivity,  the  second  Isaiah,  —  lacking 
only  his  serenity  and  harmony,  —  whose  luminous  soul 
seems  to  have  absorbed,  six  centuries  in  advance,  all 
the  dews  and  perfumes  of  the  larger  faith  that  was  to 
come. 

Like  most  peoples  who  have  a  brilliant  literature  in 
the  past,  Israel  lived  on  images  consecrated  by  the  old 
and  admirable  writers  of  the  Hebrew  scripture.  Little 
was  now  composed,  excepting  from  fragments  of  the  an- 
cient texts.  Christian  poetry,  especially,  knew  no  other 
way  of  literary  production :  take,  for  example,  the  can- 
ticles in  the  first  two  chapters  of  Luke.  But,  when 
the  passion  is  genuine,  even  the  most  artificial  form 
is  full  of  beauty.  Lamennais*  "  Words  of  a  Believer  " 
are  to  the  Apocalypse  what  this  is  to  the  ancient 
prophets  ;  yet  they  make  a  book  of  real  power,  which 
one  can  never  read  over  without  deep  emotion. 

As  in  the  style,  so  in  the  dogmas  of  this  time  we  find 

1  Rev.  vii.  9-11. 


LATER  FORTUNES  OF  THE  BOOK.  359 

something  artificial ;  but  they  respond  to  a  genuine 
conviction.  The  method  of  the  theological  mind  was 
to  transfer  boldly,  and  apply  to  the  Messianic  reign  of 
Jesus  whatever  in  the  ancient  writers  seemed  capable 
of  a  relation  however  vague  to  an  ideal  however  ob- 
scure. As  the  interpretation  thus  given  was  to  the 
last  degree  commonplace,  the  strange  results  that  fol- 
lowed often  involved  serious  misunderstandings.  This 
appears  conspicuously  in  those  passages  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse which  concern  Gog  and  Magog  as  soon  as  they 
are  compared  with  the  corresponding  passages  in  Eze- 
kiel.  Here  Gog,  king  of  Magog,  will  come  after  many 
days  ("in  the  sequel  of  days"^),  when  the  people  of 
Israel  have  returned  from  the  Captivity  and  are  estab- 
lished in  Palestine,  and  make  an  exterminating  war 
upon  them.  As  early  as  when  the  Hebrew  scripture 
was  rendered  into  Greek,  and  the  Book  of  Daniel  was 
composed,  the  phrase  which  in  classic  Hebrew  signifies 
merely  an  indefinite  future  had  come  to  mean  ''  at  the 
end  of  time,"  and  was  used  only  of  the  coming  of  the 
Messiah.*  The  writer  of  the  Apocalypse  is  thus  led  to 
refer  those  passages  of  Ezekiel  ^  to  the  Messianic  times, 
and  to  consider  Gog  and  Magog  as  representing  the 
barbarian  and  pagan  world,  which  will  survive  the  fall 
of  Rome,  and  subsist  along  with  the  thousand  years' 
reign  of  Christ  and  his  saints. 

This  fashion  of  creating  by  way  of  outside  pressure 
(so  to  speak),  —  this  method  of  putting  together  phrases 
picked  up  here  and  there  by  dint  of  a  forced  exegesis, 

1  D^D^n  nnnX3:  Ezek.  xxxviii.  8. 

^  See  Gesenius,  Thesaurus  (Heb.  Chald.),  under  nnnx.  It  was  eom- 
raoiily  so  applied  to  the  Messianic  times  by  the  Jews  of  the  Middle  Age 
(Bereschith  rahba,  88). 

8  Chaps,  xxxviii.  and  xxxix. 


36o  ANTICHRIST. 

and  building  up  a  new  theology  by  a  certain  sport  of 
self-will,  —  we  find  in  the  attempt  to  solve,  by  means 
of  the  Apocalypse,  the  mystery  of  the  last  days.  The 
theory  of  the  Apocalypse,  thus  regarded,  is  essentially 
different  from  anything  we  find  in  Paul,  or  in  what  the 
Synoptics  report  to  us  from  the  lips  of  Jesus.  Paul 
seems,  at  times,^  to  believe  in  a  temporary  reign  of 
Christ,  which  will  take  place  before  the  Last  Day ;  but 
he  never  expresses  himself  with  the  precision  we  find 
here.  In  the  view  of  the  Apocalypse,  the  coming  reign 
of  Christ  is  near  at  hand ;  it  will  follow  close  upon  the 
downfall  of  the  Roman  Empire.  The  martyrs  alone 
will  come  to  life  for  this  first  resurrection ;  the  other 
dead  will  rise  not  yet.  Such  distorted  views  follow 
from  the  slow  and  incoherent  way  in  which  Israel 
formed  its  conceptions  of  the  other  life.  We  may  say 
that  the  Jews  were  never  led  to  the  doctrine  of  a  future 
life,  except  by  the  need  of  such  a  doctrine  to  reconcile 
them  to  the  fact  of  martyrdom.  In  Second  Maccabees, 
the  seven  young  martyrs  and  their  mother  are  strong 
through  the  faith  that  they  will  rise  again,  while  Anti- 
ochus  will  never  rise.^  The  first  clear  affirmations  of 
an  eternal  life^  in  Jewish  literature  are  made  in  refer- 
ence to  these  legendary  heroes  of  the  national  faith  : 
we  find,  in  particular,  this  fine  expression,  "  They  who 
die  for  God's  sake  live  in  God."  *  We  see,  too,  the 
dawning  of  a  belief  in  some  special  destiny  for  them 
beyond  the  grave ;  that  "  they  now  stand  near  the 
throne  of  God,  and  live  a  blessed  life,"  ^  not  awaiting 

1  As  in  1  Cor.  xv.  24-28. 

2  2  Mace.  vii.  9,  11,  14,  23,  36;  vi.  26. 

»  Ihld.  vii.  36 ;  AVisd.  ii.-v. ;  esp.  iii.  2-5;  De  rat.  imp.  9,  16, 18,  20, 
4  De  rat.  imp.  16.  ^  Ibid.  18. 


LATER  FORTUNES  OF  THE  BOOK.  361 

resurrection.  Tacitus,  on  his  part,  remarks  that  the 
Jews  impute  immortality  only  to  those  who  have  died 
in  battle  or  in  torment.^ 

The  reign  of  Christ  with  his  martyrs  will  doubtless 
come  to  pass  on  the  earth,  at  Jerusalem,  amidst  the 
unconverted  nations,  which  hold  the  saints  in  venera- 
tion. This  reign  will  last  for  only  a  thousand  years, 
and  is  distinct  from  that  which  will  follow  the  final 
Judgment.  This  conception  of  the  Messianic  reign  as 
anterior  to  that  event  is  found  in  the  apocalypse  of 
Esdras  (about  97).  After  the  thousand  years,  there  will 
be  a  new  reign  of  Satan,  in  which  the  barbarous  tribes, 
still  unconverted,  will  make  horrible  wars  upon  one 
another,  and  will  be  on  the  point  of  crushing  the  Church 
itself ;  but  God  will  destroy  them,  and  then  will  come 
"  the  second  resurrection,"  —  this  time  general,  —  and 
the  final  Judgment,  which  will  be  followed  by  the  end 
of  all  things.  This  is  the  doctrine  called  "  Millenarian," 
which  was  widely  diffused  in  the  first  three  centuries.^ 
It  never  succeeded  in  becoming  dominant  in  the  Church, 
but  has  constantly  reappeared  at  critical  periods,  rest- 
ing on  texts  far  older  and  more  precise  than  can  be 
claimed  for  some  other  doctrines  everywhere  accepted. 
It  w^as  the  result  of  a  too  literal  interpretation,  con- 
trolled by  the  twofold  need  of  finding  those  phrases 
true  which  describe  the  kingdom  of  God  as  destined  to 
last  forever ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  holding  to  those 
which  denote  a  Messianic  reign  of  indefinite  duration, 
by  saying  that  it  will  last  "  a  thousand  years."  Fol- 
lowing a   rule   of   explanation   called  harmonistic,  the 

1  Tac.  Hist.  V.  5. 

2  Cerinthus  in  Euseb.  iii.  28;  Papias,  id.  iii.  39;  Justin,  TrypJio,  80,  81; 
Iren.  in  Euseb.  iii.  39 ;  Tert.  Contra  Marc.  iii.  24;  Lact.  Inst.  vii.  20. 


362  ANTICHRIST. 

millenarians  mechanically  pieced  together,  end  to  end, 
data  which  could  not  possibly  be  made  to  agree.  They 
were  guided  in  their  choice  of  the  numeral  "  thousand,'* 
by  combining  passages  in  the  Psalms  which  seem  to 
say  that  a  day  with  God  is  equal  to  a  thousand  years.-^ 
Among  the  Jews  is  also  found  the  notion  that  the  reign 
of  the  Messiah  will  not  be  an  eternity  of  blessedness, 
but  an  era  of  felicity  preceding  the  end  of  the  world. 
Many  rabbis,  like  the  writer  of  the  Apocalypse,  extend 
the  duration  of  this  reign  to  a  thousand  years.^  The 
writer  of  the  epistle  ascribed  to  Barnabas  asserts  that, 
as  the  Creation  occupied  six  days,  so  the  destiny  of  the 
world  will  be  fulfilled  in  six  thousand  years  (one  day 
with  God  being  equal  to  a  thousand  years) ;  and  that 
then,  as  God  rested  the  seventh  day,  so,  too,  "  when 
his  Son  shall  come  and  abolish,  the  time  of  iniquity, 
and  shall  judge  the  ungodly,  and  shall  change  the  sun 
and  moon  and  all  the  stars,  he  will  rest  again  the  sev- 
enth day,"  —  that  is,  he  will  reign  a  thousand  years ; 
since  the  reign  of  the  Messiah  is  always  compared  to  a 
Sabbath,  which  by  its  repose  will  put  an  end  to  the 
incessant  turmoil  found  in  the  evolution  of  all  things. 
So  Commodian  and  Hippolytus  fix  the  duration  of  the 
world  at  six  thousand  years.  The  idea  of  endless  life 
to  the  individual  is  so  foreign  from  Jewish  thought 
that  the  era  of  future  retribution  is  expressed  by  a 
number  of  years  always  limited,  though  doubtless  of 
great  extent. 

The  Persian  aspect  of  these  dreams  is  obvious  at 

1  Ps.  xc.  4,  comp.  -with  Ixxxiv.  11.  Comp.  Epist.  of  Barnabas,  xv.; 
2  Pet.  iii.  8;  Justin,  Tryph..,  81;  Iren.  v.  23:  2. 

2  Pesikta  rabhatki,  §  1 ;  Jalkut  on  the  Psalms,  806;  Ammonius  in  Mai, 
Script,  vet.  nova  coll.  i.  2,  p.  207.  According  to  tlie  Apocalypse  of  Esdras, 
vii.  26,  27,  the  Messiah's  reign  will  last  400  years. 


LATER  FORTUNES  OF  THE  BOOK,  363 

a  glance.^  Millenarianism,  and,  if  we  may  so  call  it, 
Apocalyptism,  flourished  in  Irania  from  a  very  ancient 
date.^  At  the  bottom  of  the  Zoroastrian  ideas  is  a 
tendency  to  put  in  figures  the  ages  of  the  world,  reck- 
oning the  periods  of  universal  life  by  hazars,  —  that  is, 
thousands  of  years,  —  and  imagining  a  reign  of  salva- 
tion, which  will  crown  at  last  the  trials  of  humanity.^ 
These  ideas  combined  with  assertions  regarding  the 
future  which  abound  in  the  old  Hebrew  prophets, 
became  the  soul  of  Jewish  theology  in  the  centuries 
before  our  era.  Apocalyptic  writings,  especially,  are 
full  of  them.  The  revelations  passing  under  the  names 
of  Daniel,  Enoch,  and  Moses,  are  almost  Persian  in 
style,  doctrine,  and  imagery.  Does  this  imply  that  the 
writers  of  these  strange  books  had  read  the  Zendic  writ- 
ings as  these  existed  in  their  time  ?  Not  at  all.  The 
transmission  of  such  ideas  was  indirect,  resulting  from 
the  hue  caught  by  Jewish  fancy  from  the  colouring  of 
Iranian  thought.  So  with  the  Apocalypse  of  John. 
The  writer  of  that  book  had  no  direct  relations  with 
Persia,  more  than  any  other  Christian.  The  exotic 
matters  which  he  carried  into  his  book  were  already 
embodied  in  the  traditional  midrashim  ;*  and  this  Seer 
imbibed  them  from  the  atmosphere  in  which  he  lived. 
In  fact,  all  the  features  which  appear  on  the  apoca- 

1  Similar  ideas  are  found  among  the  Etruscans,  and  no  doubt  made  the 
groundwork  of  the  old  Sibylline  books,  so  that  a  natural  connection  is 
found  between  the  Italic  Sibylline  verse  and  the  Jewish  apocalyptic  ideas 
(as  in  the  fourth  Eclogue  of  Virgil). 

2  See  the  Ardai  Virnf-Nameh,  a  sort  of  apocalypse,  which  is  not,  as 
has  been  supposed,  an  imitation  of  the  "  Ascension  of  Isaiah."  Comp. 
Sitzungsherichte  of  the  Academy  of  Munich,  1870,  i.  3. 

8  Zeitschr.  der  d.  m.  G.  1867,  571,  572;  Theopompus  in  the  treatise 
De  hide  et  Oxir.y  47. 

*  Zeitschrift,  as  above  pp.  552,  553. 


364  ANTICHRIST, 

lyptic  stage  are  to  be  found  in  the  Parsee  theory  of 
the  latter  days  —  from  Hoshedar  and  Hoshedar-mah, 
the  two  prophets  who  preceded  Sosiosh  [the  Zoroas- 
trian  Messiah],  down  to  the  plagues  which  will  afflict 
the  world  at  the  eve  of  the  Great  Day,  and  the  wars 
of  the  kings  together,  which  will  be  the  symptoms  of 
the  final  conflict.-^  The  seven  heavens,  also  the  seven 
angels,  seven  spirits  of  God,  recurring  incessantly  in 
the  visions  of  Patmos,  carry  us  fully  over  to  Parsism, 
and  even  beyond.  The  hieratic  and  astrological  sense 
of  the  number  seven  seems,  indeed,  to  have  originated 
in  the  Babylonian  doctrine  of  the  seven  planets  ^  regu- 
lating the  destiny  of  men  and  empires.  Similarities 
still  more  striking  may  be  found  in  the  mystery  of  the 
seven  seals.^  Just  as  in  the  Assyrian  mythology  each 
of  the  seven  tables  of  destiny  *  was  dedicated  to  one  of 
the  planets,  so  the  seven  seals  are  curiously  related  to 
the  seven  planets,  the  days  of  the  week,  and  the  colours 
which  Babylonian  science  connected  with  the  planets. 
Thus,  the  white  horse  seems  to  represent  the  Moon ; 
the  red.  Mars;  the  black  (dark-blue),  Mercury;  the 
pale  (or  yellow),  Jupiter.^ 

The  defects  of  this  method  are  obvious,  and  it  would 
be  vain  to  try  to  hide  them.     Colours  hard  and  fixed, 

1  Be  Iside^  etc.,  I.  c. ;  Spiegel,  Parsigrammatik,  194;  Zeitsch.,  etc.,  1867, 
573,  575-577. 

2  These,  in  the  view  of  astrology,  are  all  the  heavenly  bodies  which 
change  their  position  among  the  fixed  stars;  that  is,  the  sun,  the  moon, 
and  the  five  visible  planets. 

8  Kev.  i.  16;  xii.  1. 

*  Nonnus,  xli.  340,  341 ;  xii.  31,  32;  comp.  J.  Brandis:  Die  Bedeutung 
der  siehen  Thore  Thehens  (Berlin,  1867),  267,  268. 

^  On  the  various  colours  as  related  to  the  planets,  see  Chwolsohn,  Die 
Ssabier,  iii.  658,  671,  676,  677.  Comp.  the  supplementary  Turkish  MS. 
in  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale,  242. 


LATER  FORTUNES  OF  THE  BOOK.  365 

a  complete  lack  of  flexibility,  the  sacrifice  of  harmony 
to  symbolism,  —  something  raw,  dry,  and  lifeless  put 
the  Apocalypse  in  direct  contrast  with  Greek  art,  whose 
type  is  the  living  beauty  of  the  human  form.  A 
certain  materialism  .  deadens  the  writer's  most  ideal 
conceptions.  He  heaps  on  gold ;  he  has  the  extrava- 
gant oriental  taste  for  precious  stones.  His  heavenly 
Jerusalem  is  clumsy,  childish,  impossible,  violating  all 
good  rules  of  architecture,  which  are  the  rules  of 
good  sense.  He  makes  it  brilliant  to  the  eye,  but  has 
no  thought  of  having  it  wrought  by  the  artist-hand  of 
a  Phidias.  To  him,  in  like  manner,  God  is  a  "  vision 
of  emerald,"  a  sort  of  prodigious  diamond,  glittering 
in  a  thousand  flashes,  upon  a  throne.^  Surely,  the 
Olympian  Zeus  was  a  far  nobler  image.  The  bad  taste 
which  has  often  debased  Christian  art  to  mere  gaudi- 
ness  of  decoration  has  its  germ  in  the  Apocalypse.  A 
Jesuit  chapel,  adorned  with  gilding  and  lapis-lazuli,  is 
far  finer  than  the  Parthenon,  as  soon  as  we  admit  the 
idea  that  God  is  honoured  by  the  consecrated  use  of 
rich  materials. 

A  more  painful  feature  is  the  sullen  hatred  of  the 
pagan  world,  common  to  the  Apocalypse  and  all  apoca- 
lyptic writings,  in  particular  the  book  of  Enoch.  We 
are  shocked  by  the  harshness,  the  passionate  and  unjust 
attacks  upon  Roman  society,  which  in  a  measure  justify 
those  who,  like  Tacitus,  sum  up  the  new  religion  in 
the  phrase,  "hatred  of  mankind."^  The  virtuous  poor 
are  always  under  some  temptation  to  regard  the  world, 
of  which  they  know  little,  as  wickeder  than  it  really  is. 
The  crimes  of  rich  men  and  courtiers  are  magnified 
in  their  eyes.     Jews  of  the  prophetic  and  apocalyptic 

1  Rev.  iv.  3.  2  Tac.  Ann.  xv.  44. 


366  ANTICHRIST, 

school  carried  to  violent  excess  that  virtiions  rage 
against  civilized  luxury,  which  the  Vandals  displayed 
four  hundred  years  later.  We  find  among  them  a 
remnant  of  the  old  nomadic  temper,  whose  ideal  is 
patriarchal  life,  deep  aversion  to  great  cities,  which  it 
regards  as  centres  of  corruption,  heated  jealousy  against 
powerful  States  established  on  a  military  foundation, 
which  is  either  beyond  its  attainment  or  hateful  in  its 
sight. 

These  qualities  have  made  the  Apocalypse,  in  many 
regards,  a  dangerous  book.  Above  all  others,  it  is  the 
intense  expression  of  Jewish  pride.  In  its  writer's 
view,  the  distinction  of  Jew  and  gentile  will  be  carried 
over  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  While  the  twelve 
tribes  eat  the  fruits  of  the  tree  of  life,  the  gentiles 
must  content  themselves  with  a  medicinal  decoction 
of  its  leaves.^  The  writer  regards  the  gentiles  —  even 
believers  in  Jesus,  even  martyrs  for  Jesus  —  as  adopted 
sons,  as  strangers  introduced  into  the  family  of  Israel, 
as  plebeians  permitted  as  a  favour  to  claim  a  place 
near  the  aristocracy.^  His  Messiah  is  essentially  the 
Jewish  Messiah ;  Jesus  is,  as  his  highest  distinction,  a 
son  of  David,^  a  product  of  the  Israelitish  church,  a 
member  of  the  holy  family  which  God  has  chosen.  The 
church  of  Israel  has  really  wrought  the  work  of  salva- 
tion by  this  elected  one  of  its  own  children.*  Any 
practice  that  may  possibly  bring  about  a  connection 
between  the  pure  race  and  the  pagans  —  such  as  eating 
the  usual  food  or  celebrating  marriage  under  the  usual 
conditions  —  seems  to  him  an  abomination.     Pagans  in 

1  Rev.  xxii.  2;  "for  the  healing  of  the  nations  "  is  a  touch  of  irony. 

a  lUd.  vii.  9;  xiv.  3.  »  JUd.  v.  5. 

*  Ibid.  ii.  9;  iii.  9;  xi.  19;  xix.  1-3;  comp.  xii.,  xiii.,  xxi.  42. 


LATER  FORTUNES  OF  THE  BOOK.  367 

the  mass  are  in  his  eyes  wretched  creatures,  stained 
with  every  crime,  to  be  controlled  only  by  terror.  The 
real  world  is  the  realm  of  devils.  Disciples  of  Paul 
are  disciples  of  Balaam  and  Jezebel.  Paul  himself  has 
no  place  among  "  the  twelve  apostles  of  the  Lamb," 
who  are  the  only  foundation  of  the  true  Church ;  and 
the  church  at  Ephesus,  Paul's  own  creation,  is  praised 
"  for  having  tried  those  who  call  themselves  apostles 
and  are  not,  and  having  found  them  to  be  only  liars." 

All  this  is  very  far  from  the  gospel  of  Jesus.  The 
writer  is  too  passionate.  He  sees  everything,  as  it 
were,  through  bloodshot  eyes,  or  in  the  glare  of  a 
conflagration.  The  most  dreadful  thing  in  Paris,  on 
the  twenty-fifth  of  May,  1871,  was  not  the  flames;  it 
was  the  general  colour  cast  upon  the  city  when  seen 
from  an  elevated  point,  —  a  yellowish  false  tone,  a  sort 
of  ghastly  pallor.  That  is  the  light  that  rests  on  the 
visions  of  the  Apocalypse,  —  the  least  possible  like  the 
clear  sunlight  of  Galilee.  From  this  time  forth  we  see 
that  the  apocalyptic  style  will  not  be,  any  more  than 
the  style  of  the  epistles,  tlie  literary  form  that  will 
convert  the  world.  This  will  rather  be  those  brief  col- 
lections of  precepts  and  parables,  scorned  by  seekers  of 
exact  tradition,  —  it  will  be  those  notes  and  hints  in 
which  the  most  ignorant  and  the  least  informed  store 
by  for  their  own  use  what  they  know  of  the  words  and 
acts  of  Jesus,^  —  that  make  for  each  coming  generation 
its  gospel  and  its  charm.  The  simple  outline  of  the 
anecdotic  life  of  Jesus  was  clearly  worth  far  more  for 
the  delight  of  the  world,  than  the  symbolic  piling-up  of 
visions,  or  the  touching  admonitions  of  apostolic  letters. 
So  true  it  is  that,  in  the  mysterious  process  of  Christian 

^  See  Papias  in  Eusebius  (iii.  39). 


368  ANTICHRIST. 

growth,  Jesus,  and  he  alone,  has  always  held  the  great, 
triumphant,  decisive  part.  Every  Christian  book  or 
institution  has  value  in  proportion  to  what  it  holds 
of  him.  The  Synoptic  Gospels,  in  which  he  is  all,  — 
which  we  may  say  were  in  a  sense  written  by  himself, 
—  will  be  above  all  else  the  Christian,  the  enduring, 
book.^ 

Still,  the  place  held  by  the  Apocalypse  in  the 
Christian  canon  is  one  to  which  it  is  well  entitled. 
A  book  of  threats  and  terror,  it  gave  body  and  form 
to  the  sombre  antithesis  set  up  over  against  Jesus  by 
the  Christian  conscience  when  profoundly  and  passion- 
ately stirred.  If  the  Gospel  is  the  book  of  Jesus,  the 
Apocalypse  is  the  book  of  Nero.  It  is  due  to  this  that 
Nero  has  in  Christian  history  a  certain  importance  as  a 
second  founder.  His  hateful  face  has  been  inseparable 
from  that  of  Jesus.  Growing  vaster  from  age  to  age, 
the  monster  born  of  the  nightmare  of  the  year  64 
became  the  terror  of  the  Christian  conscience,  the 
baleful  spectre  haunting  the  darkness  of  the  world.^ 
A  folio  of  five  hundred  and  fifty  pages  was  composed  ^ 
on  his  birth,  education,  vices,  and  wealth,  —  on  his 
jewels,  perfumes,  and  women,  —  on  his  doctrines,  mira- 
cles, and  banquets. 

The  Antichrist  is  no  longer  a  terror  to  us,  and 
Malvenda's  book  is  read  by  few.  We  know  that  the 
end  of  the  world  is  not  so  near  as  the  enlightened  of 
the  first  century  supposed,  and  that  the  end,  when  it 

^  The  composition  of  the  Gospels  will  be  the  special  topic  of  the 
succeeding  volume. 

2  Even  to-day,  in  Armenian,  the  name  of  Antichrist  is  Keren  (see 
the  great  dictionary  of  the  Armenian  Academy  of  St.  Lazare  at  the  word 
Nereri). 

8  Th.  Malvenda,  De  Antichristo,  libri  undecim:  Rome,  1604. 


LATER  FORTUNES  OF  THE  BOOK.  369 

comes,  will  not  be  a  sudden  catastrophe.     It  will  come 
to  pass  by  increasing  cold,  when  in  the  course  of  a 
thousand  centuries  our   system  can   no  longer   make 
good   its   losses;  when   the   earth   has  exhausted  the 
treasures  of  the  sun's  heat  stored  by  in  its  depths,  as 
the  provision  for   its  journey.     Before  the  planetary 
capital  is  thus  spent,  will  mankind  have  attained  perfect 
science  —  which  is  nothing  else  than  power  to  master 
the  forces  of  the  world?  or  else,  will  the  earth — one 
more  abortive  experiment  among  so  many  million  others 
—  be  frozen  before  the  problem  how  to  overcome  death 
has  been  solved  ?     We  know  not.     But,  with  the  Seer 
of  Patmos,  we  discern  the  ideal  beyond  these  shifting 
alternations,  and  we  assert  that  that  ideal  will  at  length 
be  realised.     Through  the  mist  of  an  embryonic  uni- 
verse we  perceive  the  laws  of  progress  and  life.     We 
witness  the  unceasing  expansion  of  human  thought; 
and   we  anticipate  a  condition  when  all  shall  be  en- 
folded in  one  Absolute  Existence  (God)  as  numberless 
buds  are  contained  in  the  tree,  or  as  myriads  of  cells 
are  included  in  a  single  organism.     Then  the  life  of  all 
will  be  complete.     Then  each  individual  being  that  has 
lived  will  live  again  in  God,  will  see  and  rejoice  with 
Him,  with  Him  will  sing  an  eternal  song  of  praise. 
Under  whatever  form  each  of  us  may  conceive  this 
future  advent  of  the  Absolute,  the  Apocalypse  cannot 
fail  to  give  us  pleasure.     It  sets  forth  in  symbol  the 
fundamental  thought  that  God  is,  but,  above  all,  that 
He  WILL  BE.     The  drawing  is  heavy,  the  outline  in- 
adequate  and  mean ;    it  is  but  the  hand   of  a  child 
that  traces  with  a  rude  pencil,  or  shapes,  with  a  tool  he 
does  not  know  how  to  handle,  the  design  of  a  city  he 
has  never  seen.     His  childish  picture  of  the  City  of 

24 


370  ANTICHRIST, 

God,  a  big  plaything  of  gold  and  pearls,  nevertheless 
continues  with  us  a  part  of  the  substance  of  our  dreams. 
Paul  spoke  a  truer  word,  no  doubt,  when  he  summed 
up  the  final  destiny  of  creation  in  the  phrase,  *'  that 
God  may  be  all  in  all."  ^  But  for  a  long  time  to  come, 
humanity  will  crave  a  God  "  whose  tabernacle  is  with 
men,"  ^  who  has  compassion  on  their  trials,  keeps  a 
reckoning  of  their  conflicts,  and  at  length  "  shall  wipe 
away  all  tears  from  their  eyes/' 

^  TLavra  ev  •naaiv:   1  Cor.  XV.  28. 

^  Kai  (TKrjvaaci  fifT  avTav:  Rev.  xxi.  3. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

ACCESSION   OF   THE   FLA VII.  —  A.  D.  69,  70. 

The  aspect  of  the  world,  as  I  have  already  said,  an- 
swered but  too  well  to  the  visions  of  the  Seer  of 
Patmos.  The  rule  of  military  adventurers  was  bear- 
ing its  fruit.  The  camps  were  full  of  politics;  the 
Empire  was  for  sale  to  the  highest  bidder.  In  Nero's 
day,  there  were  assemblies  where  one  might  see  to- 
gether seven  future  emperors  and  the  father  of  an 
eighth.^  Verginius,  the  true  republican,  who  wished 
the  sovereignty  to  be  with  Senate  and  people,  was  a 
mere  dreamer.^  Galba,  an  honest  old  general,  who 
refused  to  be  a  party  to  the  military  revel,  soon  per- 
ished. The  soldiers  had  for  a  moment  the  idea  of 
killing  all  the  senators,  to  simplify  the  task  of  govern- 
ment.^ The  unity  of  Rome  seemed  to  be  on  the  point 
of  breaking  up.  The  Christians  were  not  the  only 
ones  to  whom  so  tragic  a  situation  suggested  prophe- 
cies of  evil.  Report  said  that  a  child  was  born  at 
Syracuse  with  three  heads;  and  in  this  was  seen  a 
symbol  of  the  three  emperors  who  rose  to  power 
within  a  year,  and  for  a  few  hours  reigned  all  three 
together. 

A  few  days  after  the  prophet  of  Asia  completed  his 

^  Galba,  Otho,  Vitellius,  Vespasian,  Titus,  Domitian,  Nerva,  and  the 
father  of  Trajan. 

2  Dion  Cass.  Ixiii.  25. 

«  Tac.  Hist.  i.  SO;  Suet.  Otho,  8;  Dion  Cass.  Ixiv.  9. 


372  ANTICHRIST. 

strange  work,  Galba  was  killed,  and  Otho  was  pro- 
claimed (Jan.  15,  69).  This  was  like  Nero  come  again 
to  life :  while  Galba  —  grave,  frugal,  and  austere  —  was 
at  all  points  the  opposite  of  his  predecessor/  If  he  had 
succeeded  in  securing  his  adoption  of  Piso,  he  would 
have  been  a  sort  of  Nerva,  and  the  series  of  emperor- 
philosophers  would  have  begun  thirty  years  before  it 
did ;  but  the  detestable  school  of  Nero  carried  the  day. 
Otho  was  like  that  monster ;  the  soldiers,  and  all  who 
had  loved  Nero,  found  their  idol  in  him.  They  had 
seen  him  beside  the  dead  emperor,  playing  the  part  of 
first  court  favourite,  rivalling  him  in  his  affectation  of 
sumptuous  feasts,  his  vices,  and  his  mad  prodigality. 
The  lower  people  gave  him  the  name  of  Nero  from  the 
first,  and  he  seems  to  have  assumed  it  in  some  of  his 
letters.  At  all  events,  he  permitted  the  erection  of 
statues  to  the  Beast;  he  put  back  the  favourites  of 
Nero  in  high  places,  and  loudly  announced  that  he 
should  continue  the  practices  of  that  former  reign.  The 
first  act  he  signed  was  for  the  completion  of  the  Golden 
House.^ 

Worst  of  all,  the  political  degradation  now  reached 
gave  no  security.  The  worthless  Vitellius  had  been 
proclaimed  in  Germany  a  few  days  before  Otho  (Jan.  2, 
69),  and  did  not  withdraw  his  claim.  A  horrible  civil 
war,  such  as  there  had  not  been  since  that  between 
Augustus  and  Antony,  seemed  inevitable.  The  popular 
imagination  was  inflamed;  frightful  prognostics  were 
seen  ;  ^  crimes  committed  by  the  soldiery  spread  terror 

1  Suet.  Galha,  12-15. 

2  Tac.  Hist.  i.  13,  78;  Suet.  Otho,  7]  Dion  Cass.  Ixxiv.  8;  Plutarch, 
Galha,  19;  Otho,  3. 

8  Tac.  Hist.  i.  86,  90;  Suet.  Otho,  7,  8, 11;  Dion  Cass.  Ixiv.  7, 10;  Plut. 
Galba,  2^\  Otho,  4. 


ACCESSION  OF   THE  ELAVIL  S7Z 

everywhere.  Never  had  such  a  year  been  known  ;  the 
world  reeked  with  blood.  The  first  battle  of  Bedriacum, 
which  left  the  empire  to  Vitellius  alone,  cost  the  lives 
of  80,000  inen.-^  Disbanded  legionaries  pillaged  the 
country,  and  fought  among  themselves.^  The  populace 
mingled  in  the  quarrel ;  it  seemed  the  overthrow  of 
society  itself.  At  the  same  time  astrologers  and  all 
manner  of  charlatans  swarmed,  taking  complete  pos- 
session of  the  city.^  Reason  seemed  drowned  in  a  del- 
uge of  crime  and  madness,  defying  all  control.  Certain 
words  of  Jesus,*  repeated  in  secret  among  the  Chris- 
tians, kept  them  in  a  sort  of  constant  fever.  Above 
all,  the  fate  of  Jerusalem  was  an  object  with  them  of 
extreme  anxiety  and  concern. 

The  East,  indeed,  was  no  less  troubled  than  the 
West.  Ever  since  June  of  the  preceding  year,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  military  operations  of  the  Romans 
against  Jerusalem  were  suspended  ;  yet  anarchy  and 
fanaticism  were  no  less  furious  among  the  Jews.  The 
violence  of  John  of  Gischala  and  the  Zealots  was  at 
its  height.^  The  authority  of  John  rested  chiefly  on  a 
body  of  Galilaeans,  who  committed  every  conceivable 
excess.  At  last  the  population  of  the  city  rose,  and 
forced  John,  with  his  assassins,  to  take  refuge  in  the 
Temple ;  but  the  dread  of  him  was  such  that  a  rival 
leader  was  set  up  for  defence  against  him.  Simon,  son 
of  Gioras,  a  native  of  Gerasa,  who  had  distinguished 
himself  since  the  beginning  of  the  war,  filled  Idumaea 
with  his  robberies.     He  had  already  had  to  contend 

^  Dion  Cass.  Ixiv.  10. 

2  Tac.  Hist.  ii.  66-68;  comp.  Agric.  7. 

8  Dion  Cass.  Ixv.  1 ;  Tac.  Hist.  ii.  62 ;  Suet.  Vitell.  14 ;  Zonaras,  vi.  5. 

*  Matt.  xxiv.  6,  7:  "  Ye  shall  hear  of  wars  and  rumours  of  wars,"  etc. 

*  Josephus,  Wars,  vii.  8:  1. 


374  ANTICHRIST. 

against  the  Zealots,  and  twice  he  had  threatened  the 
gates  of  Jerusalem.  He  was  now  about  to  make  a 
third  attempt,  when  the  people  summoned  him,  in  the 
hope  of  protecting  themselves  against  a  violent  return 
of  John.  This  new  master  entered  the  city  in  March, 
69,  John  remaining  in  possession  of  the  Temple.  The 
two  leaders  rivalled  each  other  in  ferocity.  The  Jew 
is  a  cruel  master.  Of  the  same  blood  with  the  Cartha- 
ginians, he  would  show  himself,  at  a  crisis,  to  be  of  the 
same  nature.  This  people  has  always  had  a  noble  mi- 
nority :  there  is  its  glory.  But  never,  in  any  human 
society,  has  there  been  seen  such  jealousy,  such  thirst 
for  mutual  extermination.  At  a  certain  stage  of  fury 
the  Jew  is  capable  of  anything,  even  against  his  own 
religion.  The  history  of  Israel  shows  us  a  people  of 
men  maddened  against  one  another.^  Say  what  good 
or  what  evil  you  will  of  this  race,  it  is  all  true.  For,  I 
repeat,  while  a  good  Jew  may  be  the  best  of  men,  a 
bad  Jew  is  certainly  the  worst ;  and  this  is  especially 
true  of  Jews  in  the  East.  This  may  explain  the  possi- 
bility of  a  fact  which  might  seem  incredible,  —  that  the 
gospel  idyll  and  the  horrors  recounted  by  Josephus  were 
realities  on  the  same  land,  in  the  same  people,  at  nearly 
the  same  time. 

Vespasian  all  this  while  remained  inactive  at  Caesa- 
rea.  His  son  Titus  had  succeeded  in  involving  him  in 
a  tangle  of  intrigues,  skilfully  contrived.  Under  Galba, 
Titus  had  hoped  to  find  himself  adopted  by  the  aged 
emperor.  After  Galba's  death,  he  saw  that  he  could 
arrive  at  supreme  power  only  as  his  father's  successor. 
With  consummate  political  adroitness,  he  succeeded  in 
turning  all  chances  in  favour  of  a  sober-minded,  upright 

^  See,  for  example,  Josephus,  Wars^  vii.  11 ;  Life^  76. 


ACCESSION  OF  THE  FLA  VII.  375 

general,  without  brilliant  parts,  without  personal  ambi- 
tion, who  did  almost  nothing  for  his  own  private  ad- 
vantage. All  the  East  gave  help.  Mucian  and  the 
Syrian  legions  chafed  with  impatience  to  see  the  West- 
ern legions  alone  disposing  of  imperial  power,  and  as- 
pired to  make  an  emperor  in  their  turn.  Mucian,  a 
sort  of  sceptic,  more  desirous  to  dispense  power  than 
to  wield  it,  did  not  wish  the  purple  for  himself.  Spite 
of  his  advanced  age,  his  plain  birth,  his  second-rate 
intelligence,  Vespasian  thus  found  himself  the  coming 
man.  Titus,  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight,  by  his  talent, 
activity,  and  address,  put  into  relief  whatever  modest 
ability  his  father  had.  After  Otho's  death,  the  Eastern 
legions  took  the  oath  to  Vitellius  very  grudgingly. 
They  were  disgusted  by  the  insolence  of  the  troops 
from  Germany.  They  had  been  made  to  believe  that 
Vitellius  meant  to  send  his  favourite  legions  into 
Syria,  and  transfer  those  of  Syria  to  the  Rhine,  — 
loved  as  they  were  in  their  own  province,  and  attached 
to  it  by  many  ties. 

And  then  Nero,  though  dead,  still  held  a  controlling 
power  in  the  course  of  events.  The  fable  of  his  resur- 
rection had  some  real  truth  of  fact :  his  party  yet 
survived  him.  After  Otho,  Vitellius,  to  the  delight  of 
the  lower  orders,  posed  as  an  open  admirer,  an  imita- 
tor, an  avenger  of  Nero.  He  urged  that,  in  his  judg- 
ment, Nero  had  given  a  model  of  good  government  to 
the  Republic.  He  paid  him  the  honour  of  a  splendid 
funeral,  ordered  his  musical  compositions  to  be  per- 
formed, and  when  the  first  note  was  heard,  rose  enthu- 
siastically from  his  seat  to  give  the  signal  for  applause.^ 

I  Tac.  HUt.  ii.  71,  95;  Suet.  Viiell  11;  Dion  Cass.  Ixv.  4,  7.  If  we 
could  allow  later  touches  in  the  Apocalypse,  we  might  suppose  that  verses 


376  ANTICHRIST. 

Men  of  sense  and  character,  tired  of  these  wretched 
parodies  of  an  abhorred  reign,  desired  a  strong  reaction 
against  Nero,  his  favourites,  and  his  style  of  building. 
They  demanded,  first  of  all,  reversal  of  sentence  against 
the  noble  victims  of  that  tyranny.  It  was  known  that 
the  Flavian  house  would  scrupulously  perform  this 
duty.  Finally,  the  native  Syrian  princes  declared 
strongly  for  a  chief  in  whom  they  saw  a  defender 
against  the  fanaticism  of  the  revolted  Jews.  Agrippa 
and  his  sister  Berenice  were  heart  and  soul  with  the 
two  Roman  generals.  Berenice,  though  forty  years  of 
age,  gained  an  influence  over  Titus  by  blandishments 
against  which  a  young  man  could  not  well  be  on  guard 
who  was  at  once  ambitious,  active,  a  stranger  to  the 
world,  and  wholly  occupied  with  his  own  advance- 
ment ;  while  the  elderly  Vespasian  was  completely  won 
by  her  flatteries  and  her  gifts.  These  two  rude  cap- 
tains, till  now  poor,  plain  men,  were  not  proof  against 
the  aristocratic  charm  of  a  woman  admirably  beautiful 
(if  we  may  judge  from  busts  in  Naples  and  in  Florence  ^), 
or  the  outside  glitter  of  a  world  they  knew  nothing  of. 
The  passion  which  Titus  conceived  for  Berenice  did  no 
harm  to  his  interests ;  everything  shows,  on  the  con- 
trary, that  this  woman,  trained  in  oriental  intrigue, 
was  one  of  his  most  useful  agents.  Through  her  influ- 
ence the  petty  kings  of  Emesa,  Sophene,  and  Comma- 
gene  —  all  of  them  kindred  or  allies  of  the  Herods,  and 
more  or  less  converted  to  the  Jewish  faith  ^  —  were 

12  and  13  of  chapter  xvii. — that  "they  shall  give  their  power  to  the 
Beast,"  etc.  —  refer  to  these  efforts  to  revive  the  memory  of  Nero.  I  have 
made  many  attempts  to  find  Otho  in  the  Second  Beast  or  False  Prophet. 
The  verses  xiii.  12,  16,  17  would  well  conform  to  such  a  theory;  but 
verses  13-15  [the  acts  of  sorcery  or  magic]  stand  in  the  way. 
^  That  numbered  312  in  the  Uffi.z%.  '^  Jos.  Ant'iq.  xix,  9:  1. 


ACCESSION  OF  THE  ELAVIL  377 

gained  over  to  the  plot.^  The  apostate  Jew,  Tiberius 
Alexander,  prefect  of  Egypt,  was  fully  committed  to 
it ;  ^  and  even  the  Parthians  professed  themselves  ready 
to  support  it.^ 

The  most  surprising  thing  is  that  the  moderate 
Jews,  like  Josephus,  also  came  into  it,  and  insisted  on 
ascribing  to  the  Roman  commander  their  own  special 
views.  We  have  seen  that  the  Jewish  group  about 
Nero  had  succeeded  in  persuading  him  that,  if  de- 
throned at  Rome,  he  would  find  a  new  kingdom  in 
Jerusalem,  which  would  make  him  the  greatest  sover- 
eign on  earth.*  Josephus  asserts  that,  from  the  moment 
when  he  was  made  prisoner  by  the  Romans  in  67,  he 
foretold  to  Vespasian  the  future  awaiting  him,^  as 
proved  by  certain  texts  of  the  Jewish  scriptures.  By 
reiteration  of  their  prophecies  the  Jews  had  made  many, 
even  of  those  not  belonging  to  their  sect,  believe  that 
the  East  would  gain  the  day ;  and  that  the  master  of 
the  world  would  soon  come  from  Judsea.®  Virgil  had 
soothed  the  vague  sadness  of  his  pensive  fancy  by 
applying  to  his  own  time  a  "  Cumoean  song,"  seeming 
to  have  some  relation  to  the  second  Isaiah.'  Magi, 
Chaldoeans,  and  astrologers  also  availed  themselves  of 
the  belief  of  a  "  star  in  the  East,"  heralding  a  king  of 
the  Jews,  and  Christians  gave  serious  heed  to  these 

1  Tac.  Hist.  ii.  2,  81;  Suet.  Titus,  7;  Josephus,  Wars,  xii.  7:  1-3. 

2  Mem.  of  the  Acad,  of  Inscr.  xxvi.  294  et  seq. ;  **  The  Apostles,"  chap. 
xiv. ;  *'  Saint  Paul,"  chap.  v. 

8  Tac.  Hist.  ii.  82;  iv.  51. 

4  Suet.  Nero,  40. 

5  Jos.  Wars,  iii.  8:  3,  9;  iv.  10:  7;  Suet.  Vesp.  5;  Dion  Cass.  Ixvi.  1; 
Appian  in  Zonaras,  xi.  15  (note  the  comment);  comp.  Tac.  Hist.  i.  10; 
ii.  1,  73,  74,  78;  Suet.  Vesp.  5;  Jos.  Wars,  iii,  8:  3. 

«  Jos.  Wars,  vi.  5:  4;  Suet.  Vesp.  4;  Tac.  Hist.  v.  13. 
^  Virgil,  Ed.  iv.;  Suet.  Aug.  94;  Servius  on  J2n.  vi.  799. 


378  ANTICHRIST. 

fancies.^  The  prophecy  had  a  double  meaning,  like  all 
oracles.^  It  might  appear  sufficiently  verified  if  the 
chief  of  the  Syrian  legions,  posted  a  few  leagues  from 
Jerusalem,  should  attain  the  empire  in  Syria,  by  aid  of 
a  movement  there  begun.^  Vespasian  and  Titus,  in  the 
midst  of  Jews,  listened  readily  to  such  words,  and  took 
pleasure  in  them.  While  displaying  their  military 
talent  against  the  fanatics  at  Jerusalem,  they  had  a 
strong  attraction  toward  Judaism,  studied  it,  and  paid 
deference  to  the  Jewish  books.*  Josephus  had  found 
his  way  into  their  companionship,  especially  that  of 
Titus,  through  his  soft,  easy,  and  insinuating  temper.^ 
He  boasted  before  them  of  his  Law,  told  them  the  old 
Scripture  stories,  which  he  often  set  forth  in  Greek 
style,  and  spoke  mysteriously  of  the  prophecies.  Other 
Jews  entered  into  the  same  views,^  and  induced  Ves- 
pasian to  accept  a  sort  of  messianic  character.  To  this 
were  added  miracles,  and  works  of  healing  were  re- 
ported, much  like  those  told  by  the  evangelists,  brought 
to  pass  by  this  novel  Messiah  7 

The  pagan  priests  of  Phoenicia  would  not  be  behind- 
hand  in   this    rivalry  of   adulation.      The   oracles   of 

^  Matt.  ii.  1,  2;  comp.  Num.  xxiv.  17. 

^  Comp.  Jos.  I.  c.  and  Wars^ui.  8:  3;  also  Tacitus.  Josephus  seems 
chiefly  to  have  had  in  view  Dan.  ix.  25-27.  What  proves  that  he  made 
no  serious  account  of  the  prediction  is  that  we  find  it  only  in  his  "  Wars," 
written  under  Vespasian,  while  he  omits  it  in  the  "  Life,"  written  in  94, 
when  his  two  patrons  were  dead,  and  the  fall  of  Domitian  could  be  easily 
foreseen. 

*  Jos.  Wars,  vi.  5:4. 

*  Jos.  Life,  65,  75. 

•6  Jos.  Wars,  iii.  8:  8,  9;  Life,  *Jo. 

*  Bab.  Talm.  Gitiin,  56  a,  h  ^  A  both  derahhi  Nathan,  iv.,  at  the  end 
(comp.  Midrash  Eka,  i.  5),  a  tale  of  Johanan  ben  Zakia,  quite  parallel 
with  that  of  Josephus,  and  perhaps  an  echo  of  it. 

7  Tac.  Hist.  iv.  81,  82;  Suet.  Vesp.  7;  Dion  Cass.  Ixvi.  8. 


ACCESSION  OF  THE  ELAVIL  379 

Paphos  and  of  Carmel^  claimed  to  have  announced 
beforehand  the  fortunes  of  the-Flavii.  The  results  of 
all  this  were  presently  seen.  Coming  to  power  by  the 
support  of  Syria,  the  Flavian  emperors  were  far  more 
open  to  Syrian  ideas  than  the  disdainful  Caesars  had 
ever  been.  Christianity,  as  we  shall  see,  found  its  way 
to  the  very  heart  of  this  imperial  house,  reckoned  its 
adepts  there,  and  by  its  help  entered  upon  a  wholly 
new  period  in  its  destinies. 

Toward  the  end  of  springtime  in  69,  Vespasian 
seemed  disposed  to  abandon  the  military  inactivity  in 
which  he  was  held  by  his  political  schemes.  On  the 
29th  of  April  he  marched  forward,  and  soon  appeared 
before  Jerusalem.  Meanwhile  Cerealis,  one  of  his  lieu- 
tenants, set  fire  to  Hebron,  and  all  Judaea  submitted  to 
the  Komans  except  Jerusalem  and  the  three  fortresses 
of  Masada,  Herodium,  and  Machaerus,  which  were  held 
by  the  Assassins.  These  four  must  be  subdued  by 
obstinate  siege.  Vespasian  and  Titus  hesitated  to  make 
the  attempt  in  the  present  precarious  situation,  when 
a  new  civil  war  was  impending  in  which  they  might 
need  all  their  strength.  Thus  for  a  whole  year  longer 
continued  a  state  of  revolution,  which  for  three  years 
had  already  held  Jerusalem  in  the  most  extraordinary 
state  of  crisis  anywhere  recorded  in  history.^ 

On  the  first  of  July,  Tiberius  Alexander  proclaimed 
Vespasian  at  Alexandria,  and  caused  the  oath  to  him 
to  be  taken.  On  the  third,  the  army  of  Judaea  saluted 
him  emperor  at  Caesarea.  Mucian,  at  Antioch,  caused 
him  to  be  recognised  by  the  legions  of  Syria ;  and  by 

1  Tac.  Hist.  ii.  2-4,  78;  Suet.  Vesp.  5;  Tit.  6;  comp.  Scylax,  104; 
Jamblichus,  De  Pyihag.  vita^  14,  15. 

2  Tac.  Hist.  V.  10. 


38o  ANTICHRIST. 

the  fifteenth  all  the  East  was  obedient  to  him.  A 
congress  was  held  at  Beyrout,  where  it  was  decided 
that  Mucian  should  march  upon  Italy,  while  Titus 
should  conduct  the  war  against  the  Jews ;  and  that 
Vespasian  should  wait  the  issue  of  events  at  Alexan- 
dria. After  a  bloody  civil  war  —  the  third  within 
eighteen  months  —  power  remained  firmly  established 
with  the  Flavian  house.  A  citizen-dynasty,  diligent  in 
business,  moderate  of  temper,  without  the  energy  of 
the  Caesars,  but  clear  of  their  extravagances,  took  the 
place  of  the  heirs  of  the  title  created  by  Augustus. 
Those  spendthrifts  and  madmen  had  so  abused  their 
privilege  as  spoiled  children  that  Rome  gladly  wel- 
comed the  accession  of  a  good  honest  man,  of  undistin- 
guished rank,  who  had  laboriously  made  his  way  by  his 
own  merit,  —  in  spite  of  his  little  awkwardnesses,  his 
vulgar  looks,  and  his  want  of  manners.  For  ten  years, 
as  it  proved,  the  new  dynasty  conducted  affairs  with 
sense  and  judgment.  It  kept  the  Empire  whole,  and 
completely  belied  the  predictions  of  both  Jew  and 
Christian,  who  were  now  looking  in  their  dreams  to 
see  the  empire  broken  up  and  Rome  destroyed.  The 
burning  of  the  Capitol  on  the  19th  of  December,  the 
dreadful  massacre  in  Rome  the  next  day,^  might  for 
the  moment  make  them  think  that  the  Great  Day  had 
come.  But  the  undisputed  possession  held  by  Vespa- 
sian, after  the  20th,  taught  them  that  they  must  resign 
themselves  to  live  yet  longer,  and  forced  them  to  make 
shift  to  put  off  their  hopes  to  a  remoter  future.^ 

^  Tac.  Hist.  iii.  83;  Dion  Cass.  Ixv.  19;  Jos.  Wars,  iv.  11  :  4. 

2  Josephus  admits  that  the  fate  of  the  Empire  had  seemed  desperate, 
and  that  the  secure  seat  of  Vespasian  saved  the  Roman  State  against  all 
hopa  {Wars^  iv.  11 :  0). 


ACCESSION  OF  THE  ELAVIL  381 

The  prudent  Vespasian,  far  less  disturbed  than  those 
who  fought  to  conquer  the  empire  for  him,  passed  the 
time  in  Alexandria  with  Tiberius  Alexander,  and  did 
not  return  to  Rome  till  towards  July,  a  little  before  the 
fall  of  Jerusalem.  Titus,  instead  of  pushing  the  war 
in  Judsea,  had  followed  his  father  into  Egypt,  where  he 
remained  with  him  till  near  the  first  of  March. 

The  conflicts  in  Jerusalem,  meanwhile,  became  only 
the  more  obstinate  and  bitter.  The  actions  of  fanatics 
are  far  from  excluding  mutual  hate,  jealousy,  and  dis- 
trust from  among  those  who  take  part  in  them.  Men 
of  strong  convictions  and  strong  passions,  when  leagued 
together,  watch  one  another  with  suspicion,  and  find 
their  strength  in  it ;  for  mutual  suspicion  creates  mu- 
tual dread,  binds  them  as  by  an  iron  band,  prevents 
desertion,  and  braces  them  against  moments  of  weak- 
ness. Artificial  politics,  on  the  other  hand,  without 
conviction,  may  go  on  with  the  appearance  of  harmony 
and  the  forms  of  good-will.  Interest  creates  the  party 
or  clique.  Principles  create  division,  and  kindle  men  to 
decimate,  expel,  or  kill  their  opponents.  Those  who 
judge  of  human  affairs  from  the  shopkeeper's  point  of 
view  think  it  is  all  over  with  a  revolution  when  the 
revolutionists  begin  (as  the  saying  is)  to  devour  one 
another.  But,  on  the  contrary,  this  is  a  proof  that  the 
revolution  is  in  the  full  tide  of  energy,  that  its  heat 
has  no  respect  of  persons.  This  was  never  more  plainly 
seen  than  during  that  frightful  tragedy  of  Jerusalem. 
The  actors  in  it  seemed  to  have  made  a  death-pledge 
amongst  themselves.  As  in  those  infernal  rounds 
where  (as  the  Middle  Age  believed)  Satan  was  seen 
forming  the  chain  to  drag  into  a  dreadful  gulf  files  of 
men  dancing  and  holding  each  other  by  the  hand,  so  a 


382  ANTICHRIST, 

revolution  suffers  no  one  to  escape  from  the  mad  dance 
which  it  excites.  Terror  drives  the  actors  on.  In  turn 
exciting  and  excited,  they  reel  towards  the  abyss.  No 
one  can  draw  back,  for  behind  each  man  is  a  hidden 
sword  which,  at  the  moment  when  he  would  stop,  forces 
him  to  advance. 

Simon,  son  of  Gioras,  was  commandant  in  the  city, 
while  John  of  Gischala,  with  his  assassins,  was  master 
of  the  Temple.  The  power  of  Simon  seems  to  have 
been  the  more  regular :  we  have  coins  of  his,  but  ap- 
parently none  from  John.  Simon,  too,  was  recognised 
by  the  Romans  as  the  real  chief,  and  alone  was  exe- 
cuted by  them.^  A  third  party  was  formed  under  the 
lead  of  Eleazar,  son  of  Simon,  of  priestly  race,  who 
drew  off  a  party  of  Zealots  from  John,  and  established 
himself  in  the  inner  court  of  the  Temple,  where  he 
lived  on  the  consecrated  provisions  he  found,  and  on 
those  which  were  constantly  brought  in  as  first-fruits 
to  the  priests.  These  three  parties^  made  continual 
war  on  one  another.  Their  march  was  over  heaps  of 
corpses,  for  the  dead  were  no  longer  buried.  A  vast 
store  of  wheat  had  been  laid  by,  and  this  might  have 
prolonged  the  struggle  for  years ;  but  John  and  Simon 
burned  it,  each  that  he  might  starve  out  the  other.^  The 
condition  of  the  city  was  frightful.  Peace-loving  people 
besought  that  order  might  be  restored  by  the  Romans ; 
but  all  ways  of  escape  were  blocked  by  the  terrorists, 
and  no  man  could  fly.     Meanwhile,  it  was  strange  to 

1  Dion  Cass.  Ixvi.  7.  For  the  above  points,  see  p.  224,  note  1  (above), 
and  Madden,  166,  167.  Tacitus  {Hist.  v.  12)  puts  the  two  on  the  same 
footing. 

2  Tac.  Hist.  V.  12. 

8  Jos.  TFars,  v.  1:4;  Tac.  Hisit.  v.  12;  Midrash  rabba  on  Eccles.  vii. 
11;  Bab.  Talm.  Gittin^  56  a;  Midr.  Rabba  on  Eka.,  i.  5. 


ACCESSION  OF  THE  ELAVIL  383 

see  how  they  still  came  to  the  Temple  from  the  ends  of 
the  earth.  John  and  Eleazer  welcomed  the  proselytes, 
and  profited  by  their  gifts.  The  pious  pilgrims  were 
often  killed  by  bolts  and  stones  from  John's  engines, 
in  the  midst  of  their  sacrificial  rites,  with  the  priests 
who  recited  the  service  for  them.  The  revolutionists 
were  actively  busied  beyond  the  Euphrates  to  secure 
aid,  whether  from  the  Jews  dwelling  there,  or  from  the 
king  of  Parthia.  They  had  imagined  that  all  the  Jews 
of  the  East  would  take  up  arms.  The  civil  wars  in 
Italy  inspired  them  with  wild  hopes :  they  fancied  that 
the  Empire  was  just  about  to  break  in  pieces.  In  vain 
did  Jesus,  son  of  Hanan,  roam  through  the  city  calling 
on  the  four  winds  of  heaven  to  destroy  it.  Up  to 
the  eve  of  their  extermination,  the  fanatics  proclaimed 
Jerusalem  as  the  capital  of  the  world ;  exactly  as  we 
have  in  our  day  seen  Paris,  besieged  and  famished,  still 
maintaining  that  the  world  was  in  her,  toiled  for  her, 
suffered  with  her. 

And,  what  is  strangest  of  all,  they  were  not  wholly 
wrong.  Those  madmen  at  Jerusalem,  who  insisted  that 
the  holy  city  was  eternal  when  it  was  already  in  flames, 
were  far  nearer  the  truth  than  those  who  saw  none  but 
assassins  among  them.  They  were  mistaken  as  to  the 
military  situation  then,  but  not  as  to  the  religious  re- 
sult thereafter.  These  disastrous  days,  in  fact,  clearly 
mark  the  point  of  time  when  Jerusalem  became  the 
spiritual  centre  of  the  world.  The  Apocalypse,  that 
told  in  words  of  fire  the  love  which  she  kindled,  has 
taken  a  place  among  the  inspired  writings  of  the  world, 
and  has  enshrined  in  them  the  image  of  "  the  beloved 
city."  How  hard  it  is  to  say  beforehand  who  will  be 
hereafter  held  as  saint  or  scoundrel,  as  madman  or  as 


384  ANTICHRIST, 

sage !  A  sudden  change  in  the  log-book  shows  that 
the  ship  is  falling  behind  and  not  advancing,  that  she 
is  struggling  against  head-winds,  not  borne  on  by  a 
favouring  breeze.  When  revolutions,  with  thunderings 
and  earthquakes,  are  before  our  eyes,  let  us  rank  our- 
selves among  the  blessed  ones  who  are  ever  singing, 
"  Praise  the  Lord  !  "  or,  with  the  four  Living  Creatures, 
spirits  of  the  Universe,  who,  after  each  act  of  the  celes- 
tial tragedy,  respond  Amen  ! 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE   FALL    OF    JERUSALEM. A.  D.   70. 

At  length  the  iron  circle  closed  about  the  doomed  city, 
never  to  relax.  As  soon  as  the  season  allowed,  Titus 
set  out  from  Alexandria,  reached  Caesarea,  and  thence 
advanced  upon  Jerusalem  at  the  head  of  a  formidable 
army.  He  took  with  him  four  legions,  —  the  fifth, 
Macedonica,  the  tenth,  Freteiisis,  the  twelfth,  Fulminata, 
and  the  fifteenth,  Apollinam,  —  besides  many  auxiliaries 
furnished  by  his  Syrian  allies,  and  troops  of  Arabs  who 
came  to  pillage ;  ^  and  he  was  accompanied  by  all  the 
Jews,  who  had  joined  him,  —  Agrippa,^  Tiberius  Alex- 
ander, now  prefect  of  the  praetorium,^  and  Josephus  the 
future  historian.  Berenice,  no  doubt,  stayed  behind  at 
Caesarea.  The  soldierly  conduct  of  the  commander 
matched  well  the  strength  of  the  army.  Titus  was  a 
man  of  military  talent,  above  all  an  excellent  officer  of 
high  merit,  a  man  of  strong  good  sense,  a  deep  politi- 
cian, and  of  fairly  humane  temper,  considering  the  cru- 
elty of  the  time.  Vespasian  had  enjoined  on  him  great 
severity,  angered  as  he  was  at  the  gratification  the 

^  Tac.  Hist.  V.  1 ;  comp.  the  curious  Midrash  on  Eka,  i.  5  (Deren- 
bourg,  201). 

^  Tacitus  records  Agrippa  as  present  at  the  siege  ;  Josephus  strangely 
gives  him  no  part  in  any  incident.  Agrippa's  letter  (Jos.  Life,  65)  seems 
to  assume  his  presence  at  these  events  ;  but  possibly  he  requested  the 
historian  to  blot  out  anything  that  might  make  him  hateful  to  his 
co-religionists. 

8  See  Mem  de  VAcad.  des  Inscr.  xx\d.  1,  299,  300. 

25 


386  ANTICHRIST, 

Jews  took  in  the  outbreak  of  civil  wars,  and  at  the 
efforts  they  made  to  bring  on  a  Parthian  invasion.^ 
Gentleness,  as  he  regarded  it,  was  always  taken  to 
be  a  mark  of  weakness  among  these  haughty  races, 
convinced  that  they  fought  for  God  with  God  on 
their  side. 

The  Roman  army  reached  Gabaath  Saul,'^  some  five 
miles  from  Jerusalem,  early  in  April.  It  was  a  little 
before  the  Passover,  and  a  vast  number  of  Jews  from 
all  countries  were  gathered  in  the  city.^  Josephus  puts 
the  number  of  those  who  perished  in  the  siege  at 
1,100,000.*  All  the  nation  seemed  to  have  met  there 
by  appointment  for  extermination.  About  the  tenth, 
Titus  fixed  his  camp  at  the  corner  of  the  tower  Pse- 
phina  (Kasr-Jaloud).  Some  petty  advantages  gained 
by  a  surprise,  and  a  severe  wound  received  by  Titus, 
gave  the  Jews  excessive  confidence  in  their  strength, 
and  taught  the  Romans  how  carefully  they  should 
keep  guard   in  this   war  with  maniacs. 

The  city  might  be  reckoned  one  of  the  strongest  in 
the  world. ^  The  walls  were  a  perfect  type  of  that 
structure  in  enormous  blocks  of  stone  which  has  always 
prevailed    in   Syria.^      Within,   the    Temple-enclosure, 

1  Jos.  Wars,  vi.  6:  2. 

2  Tideil  el  Foul  (?),  Robinson,  i.  577  et  seq. 

8  A  circumstance  like  that  told  of  Lydda  (Jos.  Wars,  ii.  19:  1)  shows 
how  prodigious  were  the  gatherings  at  these  feasts:  cf.  ii.  14:  3. 

*  Jos.  fFar.s,vi.  9:  3;  comp.  v.  13:  7.  The  number  is  greatly  exagger- 
ated. Tacitus  speaks  of  the  besieged  as  600,000  {Hht.  v.  13;  Oros.  vii.  9; 
Malala,  p.  260).  The  circuit  of  the  walls,  further  reduced  by  the  capture 
of  the  northern  quarter,  would  not  have  held  so  many.  The  water-supply 
is  poor,  and  must  have  given  out:  see  "  Life  of  Jesus,"  357. 

^  Its  site  was  the  same  as  at  present,  excepting  toward  the  south. 
Comp.  Saulcy,  Bern,  jours  de  Jerusalem,  plans,  p.  218  et  seq. 

8  Jos.  Wars,  v.  4 :  2,  4;  vi.  9 :  1 ;  vii.  1:1;  Tac.  Hist.  v.  11. 


THE  FALL   OF  JERUSALEM,  387 

with  those  of  the  upper  town,  and  Acra,  made  separate 
walls  of  defence,  like  so  many  distinct  fortresses/  The 
number  of  defenders  was  very  great,  and  as  yet  there 
was  abundance  of  provisions,  though  lessened  by  the 
fires.  The  parties  continued  to  fight  within  the  city, 
but  acted  together  in  the  defence.  After  the  Feast  of 
Passover,  the  faction  of  Eleazar  almost  disappeared, 
blending  with  that  of  John.^  Titus  conducted  the 
attack  with  consummate  skill ;  the  Romans  had  never 
shown  such  capacity  for  siege-works  as  now.^  By  the 
end  of  April,  the  legion  had  broken  through  the  outer 
defences  on  the  north,  and  held  that  portion  of  the 
city.*  The  second  wall,  that  of  Acra,  was  forced  five 
days  later,  and  half  the  city  was  thus  in  the  hands  of 
the  Romans.  On  the  12th  of  May  they  assaulted  the 
tower  of  Antonia.  Titus  was  surrounded  by  Jews,  who 
(excepting,  perhaps,  Tiberius  Alexander)  were  desirous 
of  saving  the  city  and  Temple ;  and  was,  besides,  more 
than  he  would  admit,  controlled  by  his  affection  for 
Berenice,  who  seems  to  have  been  a  pious  Jewess, 
devotedly  attached  to  her  nation.^  Under  these  influ- 
ences he  is  said  to  have  attempted  means  of  recon- 
ciliation, and  offered  favourable  conditions  of  surrender,^ 

1  Tac.  Uht.  V.  8,  11 ;  Dion  Cass.  Ixvi.  4  ;  Jos.  Wars,  v.  4,  5. 

2  Jos.  Wars,  v.  3:  1;  Tac.  Hist.  v.  12. 
«  Tac.  Hist.  V.  13. 

*  For  the  topography  see  authorities  cited  in  n.  1,  p.  203,  above. 

«  Jos.  Wars,  ii.  15:  1;  16:  1,  3.  The  Herodian  princesses  are  repre- 
sented by  Josephus  and  in  the  Talmud  as  devotees,  given  to  making  vows, 
and  much  attached  to  the  Temple  (Derenb.  253,  290,  notes).  Agrippa 
seems  also  to  have  been  a  very  strict  Jew:  Bab.  Talm.  Succa,  27a; 
Pesachim,  107  6. 

•  This  is  open  to  some  doubt ;  for,  as  we  shall  see,  Josephus  system- 
atically praises  the  clemency  of  the  Flavii,  insisting  that  their  severities 
were  wholly  due   to  Jewish  obstinacy  {Wars,  v.  9;  vi.  2,  6;  cf.  3:  5). 


388  ANTICHRIST. 

but  in  vain.  The  besieged  replied  to  his  propositions 
only  by  jeers  and  insults. 

The  siege  thereupon  took  a  character  of  atrocious 
cruelty.  The  Romans  made  ostentatious  display  of 
preparations  for  inflicting  awful  vengeance  ;  but  the 
daring  of  the  Jews  only  increased.  On  the  27th  and 
29th  of  May  they  burned  the  military  engines  of  the 
Romans,  and  attacked  them  in  their  camp.  The  be- 
siegers began  to  be  discouraged.  Some  of  them  were 
persuaded  that  the  Jews  told  the  truth,  —  that  Jeru- 

Sulpicius  Severus  (ii.  30),  who  here  as  elsewhere  (see  note  on  p.  392 
below)  seems  to  copy  from  portions  of  Tacitus  now  lost,  says  quite  the 
contrary:  "because  no  opportunity  of  peace  or  surrender  was  offered." 
Certainly,  a  full  intention  on  the  part  of  Titus  to  destroy  Jerusalem  is 
more  in  accordance  with  the  general  policy  of  the  Empire  and  the  interest 
of  his  own  family ;  and  he  clearly  shows  the  motive  of  inaugurating  the 
new  dynasty  by  a  striking  exploit  and  a  triumphal  return  to  Rome. 
Jerusalem  would  thus,  in  a  sense,  pay  the  costs  of  the  dynastic  revolution. 
Still,  we  may  not  overlook  the  influence  of  Agrippa,  Berenice,  and  even  of 
lesser  persons,  like  Josephus :  these  may  well  have  urged  upon  him  the 
value  of  the  gratitude  which  moderate  Jews  in  Rome,  Alexandria,  and 
Syria  would  feel  toward  the  protector  of  the  Temple.  Here,  as  in  the 
matter  of  counsel  and  war,  Tacitus  may  ascribe  to  Titus  an  ideal  of 
Roman  sternness,  such  as  had  grown  familiar  since  the  day  of  Trajan. 
Dion  Cassius  (Ixvi.  4,  5)  agrees  fully  with  Josephus;  but  his  testimony, 
while  it  may  be  only  a  copy  of  what  was  reported  by  the  Jewish  historian, 
only  proves  that,  beside  the  reading  of  Tacitus,  there  was  another  version 
of  the  facts  tending  to  show  the  clemency  of  Titus.  The  talmudic  tradi- 
tion seems  to  hint  a  knowledge  of  negotiations  with  a  view  to  prevent  the 
utter  ruin  of  the  city  (Aboth  derahhi  Nathan,  iv.,  vi.).  It  is  noteworthy 
that  in  70  Josephus  was  liberally  rewarded  for  having  served  as  an  agent 
in  efforts  for  conciliation  {Life,  76).  Perhaps  Titus  allowed  such  efforts 
to  be  continued,  though  knowing  they  would  not  succeed,  and  reserving 
his  own  liberty  of  action.  In  the  accounts  of  Josephus  a  large  allowance 
has  to  be  made  for  exaggeration,  his  wish  to  give  himself  consequence, 
and  his  pretension  of  having  rendered  valuable  service  to  his  nation. 
Some  of  his  co-religionists  charged  him  with  treason.  Was  it  not  an 
excellent  answer  to  such  charges,  to  exhibit  himself  as  using  his  favour 
with  Titus  to  avert  from  his  country  all  the  calamity  he  could  ?  (See 
Life,  75.) 


THE  FALL   OF  JERUSALEM.  389 

salem  was  in  fact  impregnable ;  and  some  deserted. 
Titus  gave  up  the  hope  of  taking  it  by  storm,  and  put 
it  under  strict  blockade.  A  wall  of  con tra vail ation 
was  rapidly  thrown  up,  early  in  June,^  supported 
toward  Peraea  by  a  line  of  forts  crowning  the  heights 
of  Olivet,  and  completely  cut  off  the  city  from  the 
country  outside.^  Till  then,  vegetables  and  the  like 
had  been  brought  in  from  the  neighbourhood ;  but  now 
the  famine  became  dreadful.^  The  fanatics,  who  had 
all  they  needed,  cared  little  :  though  we  need  not  credit 
the  wanton  atrocities  ascribed  to  them  by  Josephus, 
there  were  strict  searchings  with  torture,  to  discover 
hidden  stores  of  grain.  Any  air  of  vigour  in  one's  face 
was  a  sign  that  he  was  guilty  of  concealing  food,  and 
morsels  of  bread  were  snatched  from  the  very  mouths 
of  those  who  ate  them.  Hideous  diseases  sprang  up 
among  these  masses  heaped  together,  weak  and  fever- 
stricken.  Dreadful  tales  were  put  in  circulation,  which 
doubled  the  common  terror. 

From  this  time  on  Jerusalem  was  filled  by  famine, 
rage,  despair,  and  madness.  It  was  a  cage  of  ferocious 
maniacs,  a  city  of  howling  cannibals,  a  hell.  Titus  on 
his  part  displayed  enormous  cruelties.  Five  hundred 
wretches  every  day  were  crucified  in  plain  sight  of  the 
city,  with  hateful  aggravations  of  torment.  There  was 
not  wood  enough  to  make  the  crosses,  or  room  enough 
to  plant  them. 

1  See  Saulcy,  p.  309,  with  the  plan,  p.  222. 

*  Alluded  to  in  Luke  xix.  43:  "thine  enemies  shall  cast  a  trench 
about  thee,"  etc. 

2  The  memory  of  this  famine  is  vivid  in  the  talmudic  tradition :  Bab. 
Talra.  Gittin,  56  a,  b;  Abboth  derabbi  Nathan,  vi. ;  Midr.  on  Koh,  vii.  11; 
on  Eka,  i.  5.  Comp.  Josephus,  Wars,  vi.  3:  3;  Sulpicius  Severus,  ii.  30 
(probably  after  Tacitus) . 


300  ANTICHRIST, 

In  this  excess  of  misery  the  faith  and  fanaticism 
of  the  Jews  burned  with  more  heat  than  ever.  The 
Temple  was  supposed  to  be  indestructible.^  Most  were 
persuaded  that,  since  the  city  was  under  the  special 
protection  of  the  Eternal,  it  could  not  possibly  be 
taken  .^  Prophets  went  about  among  the  people  prom- 
ising speedy  relief.  There  was  such  confidence  in  this 
that  many  who  might  have  saved  themselves  remained 
to  witness  the  miracle  of  Jehovah.  The  frenzied 
leaders,  however,  had  complete  mastery.  All  who 
were  suspected  of  advising  surrender  were  put  to  death. 
Thus  the  high-priest  Matthias,  who  had  brought  into 
the  city  that  brigand  Simon,  son  of  Gioras,  perished  by 
his  order,  his  three  sons  being  first  put  to  death  before 
his  eyes.  Many  men  of  note  suffered  the  same  fate. 
The  smallest  gathering  was  forbidden  ;  merely  to  weep 
together,  to  gather  in  company,  was  a  crime.  Josephus 
tried  in  vain  to  signal  information  into  the  town  from 
the  Roman  camp ;  he  was  suspected  on  both  sides.^ 
The  situation  had  come  to  be  such  that  reason  and 
moderation  had  no  chance  to  make  themselves  heard. 

Titus,  meanwhile,  was  growing  weary  of  these  de- 
lays. His  mind  was  full  only  of  Rome,  its  splendours, 
and  its  pleasures.*  A  city  taken  by  famine  seemed  too 
ignoble  an  exploit  to  shine  at  the  inauguration  of  a 
dynasty.  He  accordingly  built  four  new  embankments 
{aggeres)  for  an  attack  by  main  force.  The  orchards 
and  ornamental  trees  within  a  distance  of  four  leagues 
from  Jerusalem  were  cut  down.  In  twenty-one  days 
all  was  ready.  On  the  first  of  July  the  Jews  repeated 
the  attempt  which  they  had  once  made  successfully : 

1  Enoch,  cxiii.  7.  2  Jqs.  Wars,  vi.  2:  1 ;  5:2. 

8  Comp.  Ahoth  derdbU  Nathan,  iv.  *  Tac.  Hist.  v.  11. 


THE  FALL   OF  JERUSALEM.  391 

they  went  out  to  set  fire  to  the  timbers,  but  this  time 
completely  failed.  From  that  day  forth  the  city's  fate 
was  sealed.  On  the  second  the  Romans  began  to  bat- 
ter and  undermine  the  tower  Antonia.  On  the  fifth 
Titus  was  master  of  it,  and  had  it  almost  wholly  de- 
molished, so  as  to  open  a  broad  passage  to  his  cavalry 
and  engines  to  the  point  at  which  all  his  efforts  aimed, 
and  where  the  final  struggle  must  be  met. 

The  Temple,  by  its  peculiar  style  of  construction,  was 
(as  I  have  said)  the  most  formidable  of  citadels.^  The 
Jews  intrenched  there  with  John  of  Gischala  prepared 
for  battle.  The  priests  themselves  were  under  arms. 
On  the  seventeenth  the  daily  sacrifice  ceased  for  want 
of  officiating  ministers.  This  made  a  great  impression 
upon  the  people,^  and  was  known  outside  the  town. 
The  suspension  of  sacrifice  was  as  grave  an  event  to 
the  Jews  as  a  stop  in  the  order  of  the  universe.  Jose- 
phus  took  occasion  of  it  to  try  once  more  to  break 
down  the  obstinacy  of  John.  From  the  battlements  of 
the  tower  Antonia,  which  was  at  only  some  sixty  yards' 
distance  from  the  Temple,  he  called  out  in  Hebrew,  by 
command  of  Titus  (if  in  this  the  historian  is  to  be  be- 
lieved), that  John  might  withdraw  with  such  number 
of  his  men  as  he  wished ;  that  Titus  would  take  on 
himself  the  continuing  of  the  legal  offerings  by  Jews ; 
that  John  might  even  select  the  men  to  offer  them. 
But  John  refused  to  listen.  Those  not  blinded  by 
fanaticism  now  fled  to  the  protection  of  the  Romans. 
As  many  as  remained  deliberately  chose  death. 

On  the  twelfth  of   July   Titus  began  his  advance 

1  Tac.  Hut.  V.  12. 

2  It  was  the  occasion  of  a  fast  on  the  17th  of  the  10th  month :  Mishna, 
Taanith,  iv.  6. 


392  ANTICHRIST. 

against  the  Temple.^  The  resistance  was  most  obsti- 
nate. On  the  twenty-eighth  the  Romans  held  the 
entire  north  gallery,  from  the  tower  of  Antonia  to  the 
vale  of  Kedron.  Then  the  attack  on  the  Temple  itself 
began.  On  the  second  of  August  the  most  powerful 
engines  were  set  to  batter  the  solidly  built  walls  of  the 
porches  {exedrce)  ^  that  enclosed  the  inner  courts.  The 
effect  was  hardly  noticeable ;  but  on  the  eighth  the 
Romans  set  fire  to  the  wooden  doors.  The  Jews  were 
thrown  into  unspeakable  confusion.  They  had  never 
thought  of  such  a  thing  as  possible ;  and,  at  the  sight 
of  the  crackling  flames,  they  hurled  upon  the  Romans 
a  torrent  of  imprecations. 

The  next  day  Titus  gave  orders  to  extinguish  the 
flames,  and  held  a  council  of  war,  which  was  attended 
by  Tiberius  Alexander,  Cerealis,  and  his  chief  officers,^ 
to  discuss  the  burning  of  the  Temple.  Several  among 
them  held  that,  as  long  as  this  should  stand,  the  Jews 
would  never  be  at  peace.  The  opinion  of  Titus  himself 
it  is  hard  to  know,  for  the  two  accounts  contradict  each 
other.  Josephus  reports  that  he  desired  to  spare  so 
admirable  a  structure,  whose  preservation  would  be  a 
glory  to  his  reign  and  a  proof  of  Roman  moderation ; 
while  Tacitus  says  that  he  urged  the  necessity  of  de- 
stroying an  edifice  hallowed  by  two  superstitions  equally 
deadly,  —  the  Jewish  and  the  Christian  ;  *  adding  that 

1  For  the  topography,  see  Vogiid,  pp.  60,  61,  pis.  xv.,  xvi. 

2  These  were  arcades,  or  cloisters,  built  about  the  entire  circuit, 
open  to  the  inner  courts,  and  protected  by  walls  of  great  thickness 
without.  —  Ed. 

8  See  Ldon  Renier,  in  the  Mem.  de  VAcad.  des  Inscr.  xxvi.  269  et  seq. 

*  Bernays  (Chron.  des  Sulp.  Severus,  Berlin,  1861,  p.  48)  has  shown 
that  the  passage  of  Severus  (ii.  30 :  6,  7)  is  taken  almost  word  for  word 
from  the  lost  portion  of  the  Histories  of  Tacitus,  who  himself  drew  his 
information  from  a  book  entitled  De  Judceis,  written  by  Antonius  Julia- 


THE  FALL   OF  JERUSALEM.  393 

"  these  two,  though  hostile  to  each  other,  are  from  the 
same  source  :  the  Christians  come  from  the  Jews ;  pluck 
up  the  root,  and  the  branch  will  presently  wither." 

It  is  hard  to  decide  between  two  accounts  so  ab- 
solutely contradictory.  On  the  one  hand,  the  view 
which  Josephus  ascribes  to  Titus  may  well  be  regarded 
as  an  invention  of  his  own,  eager  as  he  was  to  prove 
the  sympathy  of  his  patron  for  Judaism,  to  clear  him 
in  Jewish  eyes  from  the  guilt  of  having  destroyed  the 
Temple,  and  to  satisfy  the  strong  desire  of  Titus  to 
pass  as  a  man  of  moderation.^  On  the  other  hand,  we 
cannot  deny  that  the  words  which  Tacitus  puts  in  the 
mouth  of  the  conqueror,  both  as  to  style  and  in  the 
order  of  thought,  exactly  reflect  the  view  of  the  histo- 
rian himself.  We  have  a  right  to  suspect  that  —  full 
as  he  was  of  the  contempt  of  both  Jew  and  Christian 
which  marks  the  period  of  Trajan  and  the  Antonines  — 
he  has  made  Titus  speak  like  a  Eoman  aristocrat  of  his 
own  day ;  while,  in  fact,  the  citizen-prince  had  a  far 
more  kindly  feeling  toward  oriental  superstitions  than 
the  haughty  nobility  which  succeeded  the  Flavian 
house.^  He  had  lived  for  three  years  among  the  Jews, 
who  had  boasted  to  him  of  their  Temple  as  the  wonder 
of  the  world ;  he  was  won  by  the  flattering  attentions 
of  Josephus  (who  owed  all  his  fortune  to  Titus's  special 

BUS,  an  officer  in  the  council  of  war  (Minuc.  Felix,  Oclav.  33 ;  Tilleraont, 
Hist,  des  Emp.  i.  588).  Orosius,  like  Sulp.  Severus,  had  in  his  hands  the 
full  text  of  the  "  Histories; "  but  he  leaves  it  uncertain,  saying  only,  "  He 
long  deliberated ; "  but  ends  by  attributing  the  act  to  Titus,  —  "he  burned 
and  destroyed"  {diruit,  vii.  9). 

1  Note  that  the  "Jewish  War"  (as  Josephus  himself  asserts)  was 
submitted  to  the  judgment  of  Titus,  and  the  approval  of  Agrippa ;  that, 
in  a  word,  it  was  composed,  as  far  as  possible,  to  flatter  the  self-love  of 
Titus,  and  to  serve  the  Flavian  interest  (Jos.  Life,  63;  c.  Apion^  i.  9). 

2  Suet.  Titus,  5;  Philostr.  Apoll.  vi.  29  ;  p.  408  (below). 


394  ANTICHRIST, 

favour  ^)5  of  Agrippa,  and  still  more  of  Berenice ;  and 
he  may  well  have  wished  to  preserve  a  sanctuary 
whose  worship,  as  many  of  those  nearest  him  asserted, 
tended  wholly  to  peace.  It  is  quite  possible,  then,  that 
(as  Josephus  relates)  orders  were  given  to  extinguish 
the  flames,  and  that  measures  were  taken  against  a 
general  conflagration,  in  view  of  the  frightful  tumult 
sure  to  follow.  In  the  character  of  Titus,  along  with 
a  vein  of  genuine  kind-heartedness,  there  was  a  good 
deal  that  was  theatrical,  and  something  of  hypocrisy. 
Most  likely  he  did  not  order  the  burning,  as  Tacitus 
asserts ;  he  did  not  forbid  it,  as  Josephus  represents ; 
but  he  tacitly  allowed  it,  holding  himself  in  reserve  for 
any  explanation  it  might  suit  him  to  allow,  to  satisfy 
the  various  phases  of  popular  opinion.  However  that 
may  be,  a  general  assault  was  ordered  against  the  edi- 
fice, now  stripped  of  its  doors.  To  a  trained  soldiery, 
what  remained  to  be  done  was  only  a  single  effort,  which 
might  be  bloody,  but  could  be  no  longer  doubtful. 

The  Jews  were  beforehand  in  the  fight.  On  the 
morning  of  the  tenth  ^  they  opened  a  furious  though 
unsuccessful  conflict.  Titus  withdrew  into  the  tower 
Antonia  to  rest  and  prepare  for  assault  on  the  morrow, 
leaving  a  detachment  to  prevent  the  fire  from  rekin- 
dling. Then,  as  Josephus  relates  it,  befell  the  incident 
which  brought  on  the  ruin  of  the  sacred  structure. 
The  Jews  threw  themselves  madly  upon  the  troop 
which  was  watching  near  the  fire ;  the  Romans,  in  a 
fury  of  rage,  drove  them  back,  and  entered  with  the 

1   Wars,  iii.  8:  8,  9. 

*  The  great  fast  for  the  destruction  of  the  Temple  is  celebrated  on  the 
ninth  day  of  the  month  Ah,  corresponding  nearly  to  August:  Jos.  Wars, 
vi.  4:  5;  Mi^hua,  Taanith,  iv.  6;  cf.  Dion  Cass.  Ixvi.  7. 


THE  FALL   OF  JERUSALEM.  395 

fugitives,  pell-mell,  into  the  Temple.  A  soldier,  "  with- 
out any  order  being  given,  and  as  if  driven  on  by  a 
supernatural  force,"  seized  a  flaming  rafter,  and,  calling 
to  one  of  his  fellows  to  ^'give  him  a  lift,"  threw  in 
the  glowing  brand  by  a  window  that  opened  upon  the 
northern  porch.  The  flame  and  smoke  spread  rapidly. 
Titus  was  just  then  reposing  in  his  tent.  As  they  ran 
to  warn  him  (if  we  may  believe  Josephus),  a  sort  of 
struggle  ensued  between  him  and  the  soldiers.  Titus, 
by  voice  and  gesture,  gave  orders  to  put  out  the  fire ; 
but  in  the  confusion  he  was  not  understood,  and  those 
who  could  not  mistake  his  intention  made  as  if  they 
did  not  hear  him.  Instead  of  checking  the  flames,  the 
legionaries  piled  on  more  brands.  Dragged  along  by 
the  stream  of  assailants,  Titus  was  borne  into  the  very 
Temple.  The  flames  had  not  yet  reached  the  central 
building,  and  he  saw,  unharmed,  that  sanctuary  of 
which  Josephus,  Agrippa,  and  Berenice  had  so  often 
spoken  to  him  with  admiration,  finding  it  (says  Jose- 
phus) yet  more  magnificent  than  he  had  been  told. 
He  redoubled  his  efforts ;  commanded  the  interior  to 
be  cleared  of  men  ;  and  even  gave  orders  to  Liberalis, 
a  centurion  of  his  guard,  to  strike  those  who  dis- 
obeyed. All  at  once  a  jet  of  flame  and  smoke  shot 
out  from  the  Temple  door.  At  the  moment  of  their 
disorderly  retreat,  a  soldier  had  set  fire  to  the  interior. 
The  flames  spread  on  all  sides ;  the  position  could  no 
longer  be  held,  and  Titus  came  away. 

This  account  of  Josephus  is  unlikely  on  more  ac- 
counts than  one.  It  is  not  easy  to  suppose  that  Roman 
legions  were  so  slack  in  obeying  a  victorious  com- 
mander. Dion  Cassius,  on  the  contrary,  asserts  that 
Titus  had  to  use  force  to  compel  his  men  to  enter  a 


396  ANTICHRIST. 

place  so  encompassed  by  dread,^  where  every  trespasser 
was  said  to  have  been  smitten  with  death.  Only  one 
thing  is  sure,  —  that  a  -few  years  later  Titus  was  very 
glad  to  have  the  matter  told  in  the  Jewish  world  as 
Josephus  has  done  it,  and  the  burning  of  the  Temple 
attributed  to  the  loose  discipline  of  his  men,  or,  rather, 
to  the  supernatural  act  of  some  unconscious  agent  of  a 
higher  Will.^  "  The  War  of  the  Jews  "  was  written 
toward  the  end  of  Vespasian's  reign,  not  earlier  than 
76,  when  Titus  was  already  ambitious  to  be  known  as 
"  the  joy  of  mankind "  [delicice  humani  generis),  and 
wished  to  pass  as  a  model  of  mildness  and  bounty.  In 
earlier  years,  and  in  another  world  than  that  of  Jews, 
he  would  surely  have  accepted  another  style  of  praise. 
Among  the  scenes  exhibited  in  the  triumph  of  71  was 
a  picture  of  "  fire  set  to  temples,"  ^  certainly  without 
the  least  intention,  then,  of  exhibiting  this  deed  as 
anything  else  than  glorious.  About  the  same  time  the 
court  poet,  Valerius  Flaccus,  proposes  to  Domitian,  as 
the  finest  task  for  his  poetic  gift,  to  sing  the  war  in 
Judaea,  and  to  show  his  brother  scattering  firebrands 
on  every  side:  — 

.  .  .  Solymo  nigrantem  pulvere  fratrem, 
Spargentemque  faces,  et  in  omni  turre  furentem.* 

^  Dion  Cass.  Ixvi.  6;  comp.  Jos,  xi.  2:  3.  Josephus  is  very  precise  in 
some  details,  having  been  himself  an  eye-witness ;  but  his  story  as  a  whole 
is  warped  by  all  manner  of  inventions  and  afterthoughts. 

2  "  Under  some  daemonic  impulse,"  says  Josephus,  Wars,  vi.  4  :  5; 
"by  the  will  of  a  divinity*'  (dei  nutu),  says  Sulpicius  Severus,  ii.  30. 
Josephus  goes  so  far  as  to  charge  his  own  countrymen  with  being  the 
first  cause  of  the  calamity :  "  the  beginning  and  the  guilt  of  the  flames 
were  from  the  citizens  "  (vi.  2 :  9). 

^  Jos.  Wars,  vii.  5:  5. 

*  Argonautica,  i.  43.  The  burning  of  the  Temple  is  attributed,  in  the 
Talmud,  to  "Titus  the  Wicked  "  (Bab.  Talm.  Gittin,  56  a). 


THE  FALL   OF  JERUSALEM,  397 

The  conflict,  meanwhile,  was  hot  in  the  courts  and 
open  spaces.  There  was  fearful  slaughter  about  the 
Altar.  This  was  a  sort  of  truncated  pyramid,  sur- 
mounted by  a  platform,  which  stood  in  front  of  the 
Temple :  the  bodies  of  those  slain  on  the  platform 
rolled  down  the  steps,  making  a  heap  at  the  foot. 
Streams  of  blood  flowed  on  every  side,  and  everywhere 
were  heard  the  sharp  screams  of  those  who  were  being 
slain,  and  who  died  while  crying  aloud  to  heaven. 
There  was  still  time  to  take  refuge  in  the  upper  city ; 
but  many  chose  rather  to  expose  themselves  to  death, 
esteeming  it  an  enviable  fate  to  die  for  their  sanctuary. 
Others  threw  themselves  into  the  flames ;  others,  again, 
upon  the  swords  of  the  Romans ;  while  yet  others 
stabbed  themselves  or  one  another.^  Some  priests,  who 
had  succeeded  in  reaching  the  ridge-pole  of  the  Temple 
roof,  tore  out  the  metallic  points  there  with  the  lead 
fastenings,  and  hurled  them  down  upon  the  Romans, 
and  continued  to  do  this  till  overtaken  by  the  flames. 
A  large  number  of  Jews  had  gathered  about  the  Holy 
Place,  on  the  word  of  a  prophet  who  had  assured  them 
that  this  was  the  moment  when  God  would  display  to 
them  the  signals  of  deliverance.^  A  gallery  whither 
six  thousand  poor  wretches  had  retreated,  mostly 
women  and  children,  was  burned.  Two  doors  of  the 
Temple  and  a  part  of  the  Women's  Court  were  left 
unharmed  a  little  while  ;  the  Romans  planted  their 
standards  where  the  sanctuary  had  been,  and  offered 
them  the  worship  to  which  they  had  been  accustomed. 

There  remained  the  ancient  Zion,  the  upper  town, 
the  strongest  part  of  the  city,  with  its  defences  still 
untouched.     Hither   had   retreated   John  of  Gischala, 

^  Dion  Cassius,  Ixvi.  6.  2  jog.  Wars^  vi.  5:  2. 


398  ANTICHRIST, 

Simon  the  son  of  Gioras,  and  a  large  number  of  the 
fighting  men,  who  had  succeeded  in  clearing  themselves 
a  passage  through  the  conquerors.  This  stronghold  of 
desperate  men  required  a  fresh  siege.  John  and  Simon 
had  fixed  their  centre  of  resistance  in  the  palace  of  the 
Herods,  near  the  site  of  the  present  citadel,  covered 
by  the  three  enormous  towers,  Hippicus,  Phasael,  and 
Mariamne.  In  order  to  carry  this  last  rallying-place 
of  Jewish  obstinacy,  the  Romans  had  to  construct  em- 
bankments {aggeres)  against  the  western  wall  of  the  city, 
opposite  the  palace,  —  that  is,  the  wall  which  starts 
from  the  present  citadel,  enclosing  the  gardens  of  the 
Armenians.'^  The  four  legions  spent  eighteen  days  — 
from  the  20th  of  August  to  the  6th  of  September  — 
upon  this  task.  Meanwhile,  Titus  pushed  the  con- 
flagration into  those  parts  of  the  city  which  were  in 
his  power.  The  lower  town,  especially,  and  Ophel  as 
far  as  Siloam,  were  systematically  destroyed.  Many 
Jews  of  the  middling  class  succeeded  in  escaping. 
Those  of  the  lower  orders  were  sold  at  a  very  low 
price.  They  made  the  beginning  of  a  large  population 
of  Jewish  slaves,  who,  when  cast  upon  the  Italian  and 
other  Mediterranean  shores,  brought  with  them  the 
elements  of  a  new  and  zealous  propaganda.  Their 
number  is  estimated  by  Josephus  at  ninety-seven  thou- 
sand.^ Titus  granted  pardon  to  the  princes  of  Adiabene. 
The  priestly  vestments,  jewelry,  tables,  bowls,  candle- 
sticks, and  hangings  were  delivered  to  him.  He  ordered 
them  to  be  carefully  kept,  to  serve  in  the  triumph  he 
was  preparing,  to  which  he  wished  to  give  a  special 
stamp  of  foreign  splendour,  by  displaying  in  it  the  rich 
material  of  Jewish  worship. 

1  Saulcy,  Last  Days,  etc  ,  409,  410;  pi.  222. 

2  Jos.  Wars,  vi.  9:  3. 


THE  FALL   OF  JERUSALEM,  399 

When  the  embankments  were  finished,  the  Romans 
began  to  batter  the  wall  of  the  upper  town.  At  the 
first  attack,  on  the  7th  of  September,  they  overthrew 
a  part  of  the  wall,  with  several  towers.  Shrunken  by 
famine,  sapped  by  fever  and  rage,  the  defenders  were 
now  mere  skeletons.  The  legions  marched  in  without 
difficulty.  All  day  long  the  soldiers  burned  and  killed. 
Most  of  the  houses  which  they  entered  for  plunder 
were  full  of  corpses.  The  wretches  who  could  escape 
fled  to  Acra,  which  was  mostly  deserted  by  the  Roman 
force,  and  into  the  vast  underground  cavities  which 
honeycomb  the  subsoil  of  Jerusalem.^  Just  at  this 
point  John  and  Simon  weakened.^  They  still  held 
the  towers  Hippicus,  Phasael,  and  Mariamne,  the  most 
astonishing  military  constructions  of  all  antiquity.^ 
The  battering-ram  was  impotent  against  those  enor- 
mous blocks  of  stone,  which  were  put  together  with 
matchless  skill,  and  fastened  with  iron  clamps.  Dizzied, 
with  wits  astray,  John  and  Simon  left  these  impreg- 
nable defences,  and  tried  to  force  the  besieging  lines  on 
the  side  of  Siloam.  Failing  in  this,  they  went  to  join 
those  of  their  partisans  who  had  hidden  in  the  drains. 

On  the  eighth  all  resistance  was  at  an  end.  The 
soldiers  were  broken  down  with  fatigue.  The  weak, 
who  could  not  walk,  were  put  to  death.  The  remnant, 
with  women  and  children,  were  driven,  like  a  herd  of 
cattle,  into  the  Temple  enclosure,  and  shut  up  in  the 

1  See  Dion  Cass.  Ixvi.  5;  Jos.  Antiq.  xv.  11:  7;  Wars,  v.  3:  1 ;  Tac. 
Hht,  V.  12  ;  Catherwood,  Plan:  Vogiie,  I,  c,  pi.  i.  xvii 

2  The  charge  of  cowardice  laid  against  them  by  Josephus  is  most 
likely  groundless,  and  due  only  to  his  hatred  of  them. 

*  Jos.  Wars,  vi.  9:  1.  The  lower  courses  of  one  of  these  towers  still 
exist,  and  create  astonishment,  though  the  blocks  have  been  detached 
and  misfitted. 


400  ANTICHRIST, 

inner  court  which  had  escaped  the  burning.^  In  this 
great  crowd,  herded  together  for  death  or  slavery, 
lines  of  distinction  were  drawn.  Every  one  who  had 
borne  arms  was  slaughtered.  Seven  hundred  young 
men,  the  tallest  and  handsomest,  were  reserved  to 
follow  in  the  triumph  of  Titus.  Among  the  rest  those 
who  had  passed  the  age  of  seventeen  were  sent  into 
Egypt,  with  their  feet  in  fetters,  to  forced  labour,  or 
were  distributed  among  the  provinces  to  perish  in  the 
amphitheatres.  Those  under  seventeen  were  sold.  The 
assorting  of  the  captives  lasted  several  days,  during 
which,  it  is  said,  thousands  died,  some  for  lack  of  food, 
some  because  they  would  not  eat. 

The  Romans  spent  the  ensuing  days  in  burning  the 
remainder  of  the  city,  undermining  its  walls,  and 
breaking  up  the  drains  and  underground-works.  Here 
they  found  great  wealth.  Many  of  the  insurgents,  who 
were  found  alive,  were  killed  on  the  spot.  More  than 
two  thousand  dead  bodies  were  unearthed,  and  some 
few  prisoners  whom  the  terrorists  had  confined  there. 
John  of  Gischala,  compelled  by  hunger  to  surrender, 
begged  for  quarter,  and  was  sentenced  to  imprisonment 
for  life.  Simon,  son  of  Gioras,  who  had  a  supply  of 
food,  kept  hid  till  the  end  of  October.  Then,  in  lack 
of  provision,  he  took  a  singular  course.  Clad  in  a 
close-fitting  white  tunic,  with  a  purple  mantle,  he  sud- 
denly emerged  from  under  ground,  on  the  spot  where 
the  Temple  had  stood.^  He  fancied  that  he  should 
bewilder  the  Romans  by  a  seeming  resurrection,  and 
possibly  pass  himself  off  as  the  Messiah.     The  soldiers 

1  The  enclosure,  of  abont  360  feet  by  300,  was  very  scanty  for  the 
numbers  that  Josephus  crowds  into  it.  But  he  was  an  eye-witness 
{Life,  75). 

2  There  are  many  subterranean  retreats  beneath  the  site  of  the  Jiaram. 


THE  FALL   OF  JERUSALEM,  401 

were  at  first,  in  fact,  no  little  astonished.  Simon 
would  give  his  name  to  no  one  but  their  commander, 
Terentius  Rufus;  who  put  him  in  chains,  sent  word 
to  Titus  (then  at  Paneas),  and  ordered  his  captive  to 
be  taken  to  Caesarea. 

The  Temple,  with  its  huge  constructions,  was  de- 
molished to  the  foundation ;  the  substructions,  how- 
ever, were  preserved,^  and  make  what  is  now  called 
the  Haram  esh-sherif,  Titus  also  wished  to  preserve  the 
three  great  towers,  Hippicus,  Phasael,  and  Mariamne, 
to  inform  posterity  against  what  defences  he  had 
fought.  The  western  wall  was  left  standing  to  shelter 
the  tenth  legion  (Fretensis),  which  was  detailed  to 
garrison  the  ruins  of  the  captured  city.  Finally,  a  few 
buildings  at  the  end  of  Mount  Zion  escaped  destruction 
and  remained  as  isolated  ruins,  while  all  the  rest  disap- 
peared.'^ From  the  month  of  September,  70,  till  about 
the  year  122,  when  Hadrian  rebuilt  it  under  the  name 
^lia  CapUolina,  Jerusalem  was  nothing  but  a  field  of 
ruins,^  in  a  corner  of  which  was  set  up  the  encamp- 
ment of  a  legion,*  always  on  guard.     At  any  moment, 

^  Jerome,  In  ZacJi.  xiv.  2.  The  extraordinary  height  of  this  sub- 
basement  could  not  be  known  before  the  English  excavations.  The 
foundations  of  the  Temple  itself  could  be  seen  till  the  time  of  Julian. 
Comp.  He^esippus  in  Euseb.  ii.  23:  18. 

^  Jos.  Warn,  vii.  1:1;  Luke  xix.  44;  Epiphan.  De  mensuris,  14;  Lact. 
Inst.  div.  iv,  21  ;  Oros.  vii.  9.  The  contrary  statements  of  Eusebius  {Dem. 
evang.  vi.  18)  and  Jerome  {In  Zach.  xiv.)  came  from  the  wish  to  find  the 
fulfilment  of  prophecy.  The  destruction,  evidently,  means  simply  the 
dismantling  and  overthrow  of  the  walls  of  stone. 

*  T  shall  examine  later,  in  detail,  what  was  the  condition  of  Jerusalem 
durins:  these  fifty-two  years,  and  in  what  sense  it  can  be  said  that  there 
was  during  that  time  a  church  at  Jerusalem. 

^  On  the  spot  which  is  now  the  seat  of  the  Latin  patriarchate.  See 
Jos.  Wars,  vii.  1:1;  Clermont-Ganneau,  Comptes  rendus  de  VAcad.  des 
Inscr.y  1872,  158  et  seq. 

26 


402  ANTICHRIST. 

it  was  thought,  might  blaze  out  the  conflagration  that 
smouldered  under  these  calcined  rocks.  Men  trembled 
lest  the  spirit  of  life  should  return  to  those  corpses 
which  seemed,  from  below  the  charnel-heap,  to  lift 
their  arms  in  affirmation  that  there  still  remained  with 
them  the  promise  of  eternity. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

RESULTS  OF  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM  —  A.  D.  71-73. 

Titus  seems  to  have  remained  about  a  month  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Jerusalem,  offering  sacrifices,  and 
giving  bounties  to  his  men.-^  The  spoils  and  captives 
were  sent  to  Caesarea.  The  season  was  too  far  ad- 
vanced to  allow  the  youthful  commander  to  set  out 
for  Rome.  He  spent  the  winter  in  visiting  several 
eastern  cities,  and  in  giving  feasts.  Troops  of  Jewish 
prisoners,  whom  he  dragged  about  with  him,  were  cast 
to  wild  beasts,  burned  alive,  or  forced  to  fight  one  an- 
other.^ At  Paneas,  on  the  twenty-fourth  of  October 
(his  brother  Domitian's  birthday),  more  than  twenty- 
five  hundred  Jews  perished  in  the  flames,  or  else  in 
the  horrid  sports  of  the  amphitheatre.  At  Beyrout, 
on  the  seventeenth  of  November,  an  equal  number 
were  sacrificed  to  celebrate  the  birthday  of  Vespasian. 
Hatred  of  Jews  was  the  ruling  passion  of  the  Syrian 
towns ;  and  these  frightful  massacres  were  hailed  with 
delight.  The  most  shocking  thing  of  all  is,  perhaps, 
that  Josephus  and  Agrippa  did  not  quit  Titus  during 
this  time,  and  were  witnesses  of  these  atrocities. 

Titus  then  made  a  long  journey  in  Syria  and  beyond 
the  Euphrates.     At  Antioch  he  found  the  population 

1  Inscription  in  Mem  de  VAcad.  des  Inscr.  xxvi.  290. 

2  Jos.  Wars,  vii.  2;  3:  1;  5:  1. 


404  ANTICHRIST, 

enraged  against  the  Jews,  who  were  accused  of  starting 
a  conflagration  that  had  nearly  destroyed  the  city ;  but 
he  did  no  more  than  to  cancel  the  bronze  tablets  on 
which  their  privileges  were  inscribed.^  He  further  pre- 
sented to  the  city  the  winged  cherubim  which  over- 
spread the  ark.  This  curious  trophy  was  set  in  front 
of  the  great  western  gate,  which  took  the  name  of  the 
Gate  of  Cherubim.  Near  this  he  dedicated  a  four-horse 
chariot  to  the  Moon,  in  gratitude  for  the  help  given 
him  by  that  luminary  during  the  siege.  At  Daphne  he 
erected  a  theatre  on  the  site  of  the  Jewish  synagogue, 
with  an  inscription  signifying  that  this  structure  was 
built  from  the  spoil  got  in  Judaea.^ 

From  Antioch  he  returned  to  Jerusalem,  where  he 
found  the  legion  Fretensis,  under  command  of  Terentius 
Kufus,  still  occupied  in  searching  the  hollows  beneath 
the  ruined  city.  The  apparition  of  Simon,  son  of  Gio- 
ras,  emerging  from  the  drains,  when  it  was  supposed 
that  no  one  was  left  there,  had  revived  the  subterra- 
nean hunt.  Every  day,  indeed,  some  wretched  fugitive 
or  some  new  treasure  was  discovered.  At  sight  of  the 
solitude  he  had  made,  Titus,  it  is  said,  could  not  refrain 
from  an  emotion  of  pity.  The  Jews  who  came  to  him 
had  an  increasing  influence  upon  him :  the  vision  of  an 
oriental  empire,  which  had  been  displayed  before  the 
eyes  of  Nero  and  Yespasian,  began  to  glow  about  him, 
and  even  stirred  some  suspicion  at  Rome.'"^  Agrippa, 
Berenice,  Josephus,  and  Tiberius  Alexander  were  more 
than  ever  in  favour  with  him,  and  there  were  many 
who  argued  that  Berenice  might  play  the  part  of  a  new 
Cleopatra.     Some  anger  was  felt  at  seeing  people  of 

1  Jos.  Wars,  vii.  3:2-4.  «  Malala  (ed.  Bonn),  261,  281. 

8  Suet.  Titus,  5. 


RESULTS  OF  THE  FALL   OF  JERUSALEM,  405 

that  class  honoured  and  all-powerful,  when  the  rebel- 
lion had  but  just  been  put  down.^  On  his  own  part, 
Titus  listened  more  and  more  willingly  to  the  sugges- 
tion that  he  was  fulfilling  a  providential  mission ;  and 
he  took  pleasure  in  hearing  prophetic  passages  which,  he 
was  assured,  referred  to  him.  Josephus  asserts  that  he 
ascribed  his  victory  to  God,  and  acknowledged  himself 
to  have  been  the  object  of  special  divine  favour.^  We 
are  struck  by  finding  that  Philostratus,  a  hundred  and 
twenty  years  later,  in  his  "  Life  of  Apollonius  "  (vi.  29), 
fully  admits  the  statement,  and  makes  it  the  occasion 
of  a  correspondence  between  Titus  and  his  own  philo- 
sophic hero.  If  we  may  believe  him,  Titus  refused  the 
crowns  that  were  offered  him,  saying  that  not  he  was 
the  conqueror  of  Jerusalem  ;  that  he  had  only  lent  his 
own  service  to  an  angry  God.  Now,  it  is  hardly  to 
be  supposed  that  Philostratus  knew  the  passage  in 
Josephus  :  it  was  part  of  the  trite  legend  of  Titus's 
moderation. 

Titus  returned  to  Rome  in  May  or  June  of  the  year 
71,  bent  upon  a  triumph  which  should  surpass  every- 
thing in  that  kind  that  had  ever  been  seen.  The  sim- 
plicity, gravity,  and  somewhat  commonplace  manners 
of  Vespasian  were  not  such  as  to  appeal  to  the  fancy 
of  a  population  accustomed  to  demand  of  its  sovereigns, 
first  of  all,  prodigality  and  an  air  of  grandeur.  Titus 
thought  that  a  stately  entrance  would  have  a  fine  effect, 

1  Juvenal,  Sai,  i.  128-130,  a  passage  referring  to  Tiberius  Alexander. 

2  Jos.  Wars^  vi.  9:  1.  No  doubt  we  may  suspect  in  this  a  deliberate 
afterthought  of  the  historian  (see  above,  note  on  pp.  387,  388;  also  pp. 
391-394).  But  since  Titus  is  said  some  years  after  to  have  approved 
these  statements  (Jos.  Life^  65),  we  may  conclude  that  at  some  points 
they  reflect  his  nature  and  thought.  And,  even  if  we  doubt  the  fact,  at 
any  rate  Josephus  thought  to  make  favour  at  court  by  asserting  it. 


4o6  ANTICHRIST. 

and  succeeded  in  conquering  the  prejudices  of  his  old- 
fashioned  father  about  it.  The  ceremony  was  set  forth 
with  all  the  skill  of  the  Roman  decorative  artists  of 
that  period.  Especially  it  was  marked  by  the  care 
taken  to  ensure  local  colour  and  historic  realism.^  It 
was  also  a  favourite  device  to  reproduce  the  simple 
and  austere  Roman  rites  as  if  on  purpose  to  set  them 
in  relief  against  the  vanquished  religion.  At  the  open- 
ing of  the  ceremony,  Vespasian  officiated  as  pontiff, 
with  his  head  more  than  half  covered  by  the  toga,  and 
made  the  formal  prayers,  Titus  then  following  him 
with  the  same  formalities.  The  procession  was  amaz- 
ing. All  the  curiosities  and  rarities  of  the  world,  the 
costly  products  of  Oriental  art,  were  displayed  in  it, 
beside  the  finished  work  of  Greek  and  Roman  skill. 
Having  just  escaped  the  greatest  danger  the  Empire 
had  ever  run,  it  would  seem  the  most  pompous  display 
must  be  made  of  its  wealth  and  splendour.  Scaffold- 
ings on  wheels,  rising  three  or  four  stages  in  height, 
were  the  object  of  universal  admiration.  Here  were 
seen  displayed  all  the  episodes  of  the  war,  each  series 
ending  with  an  exhibition,  to  the  life,  of  the  strange 
figure  made  by  Bar-Gioras  as  he  emerged  from  his 
hiding-place,  and  the  method  of  his  capture.  The  pale 
features  and  sunken  eyes  of  the  captives  were  disguised 
under  the  superb  garments  they  were  dressed  in.  In 
the  midst  was  Bar-Gioras  himself,  conducted  in  great 
pomp  to  his  death.  Then  came  the  spoils  of  the 
Temple,  —  the  golden  table,  the  golden  candlestick 
with  seven  branches,  the  purple  veil  of  the  Holy  of 
Holies,  and,  to  end  the  series  of  trophies,  the  captive, 
the  vanquished,  the  specially  guilty  one  —  the  Book  of 

1  Jos.  Wars,  vii.  5:  3-7. 


RESULTS  OF  THE  FALL   OF  JERUSALEM.         407 

the  Law  [Torah),  The  parade  of  victorious  soldiers 
closed  the  march.  Vespasian  and  Titus  were  borne  in 
two  separate  chariots.^  Titus  was  radiant ;  while  Ves- 
pasian, seeing  in  all  this  pomp  only  a  day  lost  for  busi- 
ness, was  very  weary  of  it,  and  did  not  try  to  hide  the 
dull  look  of  a  busy  man,  expressing  his  impatience  that 
the  procession  did  not  move  faster,  and  grumbling  to 
himself,  "  A  very  pretty  mess !  .  .  .  Well,  I  have  de- 
served it.  What  a  fool  I  have  made  of  myself  .  .  . 
a  man  of  my  age,  too  !  "  ^  Domitian,  sumptuously  at- 
tired and  mounted  on  a  noble  charger,  pranced  here 
and  there  about  his  father  and  elder  brother. 

Thus  they  arrived,  by  the  Sacred  Way,  at  the  temple 
of  Jupiter  Capitolinus,  the  usual  goal  of  the  triumphal 
march.  At  the  foot  of  the  Capitol  Hill  they  made  a 
halt,  in  order  to  avoid  the  distressing  part  of  the  cere- 
mony, the  execution  of  the  chief  captives.  This  hate- 
ful custom  was  observed  to  the  letter.  Bar-Gioras  was 
taken  out  from  the  troop  of  prisoners,  and  dragged, 
with  a  cord  about  his  neck,  the  butt  of  unseemly  in- 
sults, to  the  Tarpeian  Rock,  where  he  was  put  to 
death.  When  a  cry  proclaimed  that  the  enemy  of 
Rome  was  no  more,  there  went  up  a  mighty  shout, 
and  the  sacrifices  began.  After  the  customary  invoca- 
tions, the  princes  retired  to  the  Palatine,  and  the  rest 
of  the  day  was  spent  by  all  the  city  in  festival  and 
rejoicing. 

The  Book  of  the  Law  and  the  hangings  of  the  Tem- 
ple were  carried  to  the  imperial  palace.     The  furnish- 

^  Positively  so  stated  by  Josephns,  who  witnessed  the  ceremony. 
Zonaras  (xi.  17)  puts  them,  though  not  so  precisely,  on  the  same 
chariot. 

•  Suet.  Vesp,  12. 


4o8  ANTICHRIST, 

ings  of  gold,  especially  the  table  for  shew-bread  and 
the  candlestick,  were  laid  aside  in  a  great  building  con- 
structed by  Vespasian  over  against  the  Palatine,  across 
the  Sacred  Way,  called  the  Temple  of  Peace,  which 
made  a  sort  of  Museum  under  the  Flavian  emperors.'^ 
A  triumphal  arch  of  Pentelican  marble,  still  standing, 
kept  the  memory  of  this  extraordinary  triumph,  with 
figures  of  the  chief  objects  which  were  carried  in  it.^ 
Father  and  son  on  this  occasion  took  each  the  title  of 
imperator,  but  refused  that  of  Judaicus^  either  because 
there  was  something  of  scorn  or  ridicule  in  it,*  or  to 
show  that  the  victory  in  Judaea  was  not  in  a  campaign 
against  a  foreign  nation,  but  was  only  the  suppression 
of  a  revolt  of  slaves ;  or,  again,  from  some  secret 
motive,  such  as  Josephus  and  Philostratus  have  hinted 
at  in  exaggerated  terms.  A  coin,  or  medal,  represent- 
ing Judsea  in  chains,  weeping  under  a  palm-tree,  with 
the  legend  iydaea  capta,  ivdaea  deyicta,  preserved 
the  memory  of  the  one  great  exploit  of  the  Flavian 
dynasty.  This  coin  continued  to  be  struck  till  the 
days  of  Domitian.^ 

The  victory  was  complete.  A  commander  of  Gallic 
race  and  blood  —  one,  I  may  say,  of  ourselves,^  at  the 
head  of  legions,  in  whose  register,  if  we  could  read  it, 

1  This  temple,  dedicated  in  75,  was  entirely  destroyed  by  fire  under 
Commodus.  Little  dependence  can  be  placed  on  what  Procopius  says  in 
his  Vandal  War  (ii.  5). 

2  This  [the  so-called  Arch  of  Titus]  was  not  finished  till  the  reign  of 
Domitian.     See  inscr.  758,  in  Orelli. 

8  Dion  Cassius,  Ixvi.  7. 

*  See  Cicero's  jest  (Hierosolymarius),  Ad  Att.  ii.  9. 

6  Madden,  "Jewish  Coinage,"  183-197. 

®  The  Flavian  family  originated  in  Cisalpine  Gaul.  The  portraits  of 
Titus  and  Vespasian  show  us  very  common  features,  like  those  most 
familiar  to  us. 


RESULTS  OF  THE  FALL   OF  JERUSALEM.         409 

we  should  find  many  an  ancestor  of  our  own  —  had 
demolished  the  citadel  of  Semitic  faith,  and  had  in- 
flicted on  the  theocracy,  that  formidable  foe  to  civili- 
sation, the  most  crushing  defeat  it  had  ever  sustained. 
It  was  the  triumph  of  the  Roman  Law  —  or,  rather, 
the  Law  of  Reason,  a  wholly  philosophic  structure, 
with  no  groundwork  of  revelation  —  over  the  Jewish 
Book  of  the  Law  [Torah),  which  claims  to  be  revealed. 
This  Law  —  the  Jus  Romaniim,  whose  roots  were  partly 
Greek,  but  so  largely  due  to  the  practical  genius  of 
the  Latins  —  was  the  noble  gift  which  Rome  bestowed 
on  vanquished  nations  in  recompense  of  their  lost  in- 
dependence. Every  victory  of  Rome  was  a  step  in  the 
advance  of  Reason.  Rome  introduced  into  the  world 
a  principle  better  in  many  respects  than  that  of  the 
Jews,  —  I  mean  the  Secular  State,  resting  on  a  purely 
civil  conception  of  society.  Every  patriotic  struggle 
is  to  be  honoured.  But  the  Zealots  were  not  merely 
patriots ;  they  were  fanatics,  armed  tools  of  an  intol- 
erable tyranny.  What  they  wished  was  to  uphold  a 
bloody  code,  which  ordained  stoning  as  the  penalty  of 
wrong  thinking.  What  they  fought  against  was  the 
common  right,  the  layman's  right,  a  right  free  to  all, 
which  does  not  disturb  itself  about  private  opinion. 
Liberty  of  conscience  was  destined  to  result  at  length 
from  Roman  Law,  while  it  could  never  have  been  born 
of  Judaism.  Out  of  this  could  come  only  the  Syna- 
gogue or  the  Church,  censorship  of  manners,  compulsory 
morality,  the  convent,  —  a  world  like  that  in  the  fifth 
century,  in  which  the  human  race  would  have  lost  all 
its  vigour,  unless  the  Barbarians  had  brought  the  rem- 
edy. Better,  in  truth,  the  reign  of  the  Warrior  than 
the  temporal  rule  of  the  Priest !    For  the  warrior  harms 


410  ANTICHRIST. 

not  the  spirit :  one  can  think  freely  under  him  ;  while 
the  priest  requires  of  his  subjects  that  which  is  impos- 
sible, —  namely,  belief  in  certain  things,  and  the  pledge 
to  find  them  always  true. 

The  triumph  of  Rome  was,  therefore,  in  some  re- 
spects well  deserved.  Jerusalem  had  become  an  impos- 
sibility. The  Jews,  if  left  to  themselves,  would  have 
reduced  it  to  ruins.  But  a  great  void  was  to  deprive 
this  victory  of  its  fruits.  Our  Western  races,  with  all 
their  superiority,  have  always  shown  lamentable  reli- 
gious impotence.  It  was  utterly  impossible  to  get  from 
the  Roman  or  Gallic  religion  anything  akin  to  the 
Christian  Church.  But  any  advantage  gained  over  one 
religion  is  futile,  unless  its  place  is  filled  by  another 
that  gives  at  least  equal  satisfaction  to  the  needs  of 
the  heart.  Jerusalem  was  destined  to  avenge  herself 
for  her  defeat :  to  conquer  Rome  through  Christianity, 
and  Persia  through  Islam ;  to  destroy  the  old  political 
structure,  and  to  become  for  all  finer  natures  a  City  of 
the  Soul.  The  most  perilous  tendency  of  its  Code 
{Torah)  —  a  Law  at  once  ethical  and  civil,  giving  pre- 
cedence to  social  questions  over  matters  military  and 
political  —  was  to  become  dominant  in  the  Church. 
Throughout  the  Middle  Age,  censured  and  spied  upon 
by  the  community,  the  individual  would  dread  the 
homily,  and  tremble  before  the  sentence  of  excommu- 
nication. This  was  just  amends  for  the  moral  indif- 
ference of  pagan  society,  and  a  protest  against  the 
impotence  of  Roman  institutions  to  benefit  the  indi- 
vidual. Certainly,  there  is  something  hateful  in  the 
power  of  coercion  granted  to  religious  bodies  over  their 
members.  The  worst  of  errors  is  to  think  that  any 
one  religion  has  the  monopoly  of  goodness.     For  every 


RESULTS  OF  THE  FALL   OF  JERUSALEM.         411 

man  that  religion  is  good  which  makes  him  gentle, 
upright,  humble,  and  kind.  But  to  govern  mankind 
is  a  hard  task.  The  ideal  is  very  high,  and  the  earth 
is  very  low.  Outside  the  sterile  province  of  philos- 
ophy, what  we  meet  at  every  step  is  unreason,  folly, 
and  passion.  The  wise  men  of  antiquity  succeeded  in 
winning  to  themselves  some  little  authority  only  by 
impostures,  which  gave  them  a  hold  upon  the  imagina- 
tion, in  their  lack  of  physical  force.  Where  would 
civilisation  have  been  if  men  had  not  believed  for  cen- 
turies that  the  Brahman  could  cast  a  thunderbolt  by 
his  glance  ;  or  if  the  barbarians  had  not  been  awe- 
struck by  the  terrible  vengeance  of  Saint  Martin  of 
Tours  ?  Man  has  need  of  a  moral  discipline,  for  which 
the  cares  of  Family  and  State  are  not  enough. 

In  the  intoxication  of  success  Rome  did  not  easily 
keep  in  mind  that  the  Jewish  insurrection  was  still 
alive  in  the  valley  of  the  Dead  Sea.  Three  fortresses 
—  Herodium,  Machaerus,  and  Masada^  —  remained  in 
the  hands  of  the  Jews.  What  kept  any  hope  in  them 
after  the  capture  of  Jerusalem  must  have  been  their 
firm  resolution  to  shut  their  eyes  to  all  evidence.  The 
rebels  defended  themselves  as  fiercely  as  if  the  struggle 
were  just  beginning.  Herodium  was  little  more  than  a 
fortified  palace,  and  was  taken  without  much  difficulty 
by  Lucilius  Bassus.  Machaerus  held  out  obstinately; 
and  atrocities,  massacres,  and  the  sale  of  whole  troops 
of  Jewish  captives  were  renewed.  Masada  made  one 
of  the  most  heroic  defences  recorded  in  the  history  of 

^  Saulcy,  Travels  in  the  Holy  Land  (i.  168)  and  about  the  Dead  Sea 
(i.  199,  with  plates  xi.,  xii.,  xiii.);  Gue'rin,  D'escr.  of  Palestine,  iii.  122; 
Parent,  Machcerous  (Paris,  1868);  Vignes,  notes;  G.  Rey,  Voyage  dansle 
Haouran,  285;  pi.  xxv.,  xxvi. 


412  ANTICHRIST, 

war.  Eleazar,  son  of  Jairiis,  grandson  of  Judas  the 
Gaulonite,  had  seized  this  fortress  early  in  the  revolt, 
and  made  it  a  resort  of  Zealots  and  armed  partisans. 
Masada  occupies  the  level  summit  of  an  immense  cliff, 
some  sixteen  hundred  feet  in  height,  on  the  margin  of 
the  Dead  Sea.  To  gain  possession  of  such  a  stronghold, 
Fulvius  Silva  was  compelled  to  make  enormous  efforts. 
The  Jews  were  cast  into  immeasurable  despair  when 
they  found  themselves  stormed  in  a  retreat  they  had 
deemed  impregnable.  At  the  instigation  of  Eleazar, 
they  slew  one  another,  and  set  fire  to  the  heap  they 
had  made  of  their  possessions.  So  perished  nine  hun- 
dred and  sixty  persons.  This  bloody  tragedy  befell  on 
the  15th  of  April,  72. 

By  these  events  Judaea  was  left  desolated  from  end 
to  end.  Vespasian  ordered  the  sale  of  all  lands  that 
had  become  ownerless  by  the  death  or  captivity  of  their 
proprietors.^  It  seems  to  have  been  proposed  to  him 
to  rebuild  Jerusalem  under  another  name  and  found  a 
colony  there,  —  a  scheme  afterwards  carried  out  by 
Hadrian.  He  declined  to  do  this,  and  annexed  the 
entire  territory  to  the  emperor's  private  domain.^  He 
only  gave  to  eight  hundred  veterans  the  village  of 
Emmaus,  near  Jerusalem,^  making  of  it  a  little  colony, 
of  which  a  trace  is  preserved  in  the  name  of  the  pretty 
village  Kulonie.  A  special  tribute  was  assessed  upon 
the  Jews  throughout  the  Empire,  who  were   to  pay 

^  Jos.  Wars,  vii.  6:  6. 

2  The  words  of  Josephus  {I.  c.)  are,  Ihiav  avra  rfjv  xo>pav  ^vXarrav,  mean- 
ing,  probably,  that  he  kept  the  price  of  sale  (comparing  the  phrase  else- 
where, KeXfucof  .  .  .  dnoboadai).  On  the  meaning  of  I8iav,  comp.  Corpus 
inscr.  grcec,  3751;  Mommsen,  Inscr.  regni  Neap.f  4:QdQ',  Henzen,  6926; 
Strabo,  xvii.  1 :  12. 

8  See  note  at  the  beginning  of  chap.  xiii. 


RESULTS  OF  THE  FALL   OF  JERUSALEM.         413 

yearly  to  the  Capitol  the  amount  of  two  drachmas 
[about  forty  cents],  which  they  had  previously  paid  to 
the  Temple  at  Jerusalem.^  The  little  band  of  reconciled 
Jews  —  Josephus,  Agrippa,  Berenice,  Tiberius  Alexan- 
der—  chose  Rome  for  their  residence.  We  shall  meet 
them  there,  playing  a  considerable  part,  sometimes 
winning  some  moments  of  court  favour  for  their  coun- 
trymen, sometimes  pursued  by  the  hatred  of  fanatical 
believers,  more  than  once  indulging  hopes,  —  notably, 
when  Berenice  seemed  likely  to  become  the  wife  of 
Titus,  and  to  hold  the  sceptre  of  the  world. 

Judaea  was  now  reduced  to  a  solitude,  and  seemed 
at  rest.  But  the  prodigious  disturbance  she  had  felt 
was  repeated  in  lesser  shocks  in  the  adjoining  regions. 
This  effervescence  continued  till  near  the  end  of  73. 
The  Zealots  who  had  escaped  massacre,  those  who  had 
enlisted  in  the  siege,  all  the  crazy-heads  of  Jerusalem, 
spread  abroad  into  Egypt  and  Cyrena'ica.  The  com- 
munities of  these  regions,  wealthy  and  conservative, 
and  very  far  away  from  the  fanaticism  of  Palestine, 
felt  the  danger  brought  among  them  by  these  desper- 
ate men ;  and  so  undertook  the  task  of  arresting  and 
handing  them  over  to  the  Romans.  Many  fled  as  far 
as  to  Upper  Egypt,  whither  they  were  tracked  and 
hunted  like  wild  beasts.^  At  Cyrene  a  partisan  named 
Jonathas,  by  trade  a  weaver,  set  up  for  a  prophet ;  and, 
like  all  false  Messiahs,  persuaded  two  thousand  poor 
men  {ehionim)  to  follow  him  to  the  desert,  w^liere  he 
promised  to  show  them  prodigies  and  astounding  appa- 

1  Jos.  Wars,  vii.  6:6;  Dion  Cass.lxvi.  7;  Suet.  Domitian,  12;  Appian, 
Syr.  50;  Origen,  Epist.  ad  Afric.  "  de  Susanna,"  i.  28;  Martial,  vii.  54; 
Nerva's  coinage,  Madden,  199. 

2  Jos.  Wars,  vii.  10:  1;  Euseb.  Chron.  ann.  73. 


414  ANTICHRIST, 

ritions.^  Cool-headeH  Jews  denounced  him  to  Catullus, 
governor  of  the  district ;  but  he  retaliated  by  laying 
charges  against  them,  which  brought  on  them  end- 
less troubles.  Almost  the  entire  Jewish  population  of 
Cyrene,  one  of  the  most  prosperous  in  the  world/  was 
exterminated ;  and  its  property  was  confiscated  in  the 
emperor's  name.  Catullus,  who  had  shown  much  cru- 
elty in  this  affair,  and  was  disavowed  by  Vespasian, 
died  a  victim  to  frightful  hallucinations,  which  (it  has 
been  thought)  became  the  subject  of  a  dramatic  work 
with  fantastic  scenery,  "  The  Spectre  of  Catullus."  ^ 

But,  strange  to  say,  this  long  and  terrible  death- 
agony  was  not  immediately  fatal.  Under  Trajan  and 
Hadrian,  as  we  shall  see,  the  Jewish  nationality  re- 
vived, and  proved  still  capable  of  a  bloody  struggle; 
but  clearly  the  die  was  cast,  the  Zealot  was  crushed 
beyond  recovery.  The  way  pointed  out  by  Jesus,  and 
instinctively  followed  by  the  heads  of  the  church  in 
Jerusalem  who  took  refuge  in  Persea,  became  emphati- 
cally the  true  way  for  Israel.  The  secular  kingdom  of 
the  Jews  had  been  hateful,  hard,  and  cruel.  The  time 
of  the  Asmonaean  kings,  when  they  enjoyed  national 
independence,  was  their  gloomiest  period.  Had  they 
to  regret  the  Herodian  monarchy,  or  the  rule  of  Sad- 
ducees,  that  shameful  alliance  of  an  ignoble  princedom 
with  a  dishonoured  priesthood  ?  Surely  not.  That 
was  not  the  true  vocation  of  the  "people  of  God." 
One  must  be  blind  not  to  see  that  the  ideal  institutions 
to  which  "  the  Israel  of  God  "  aspired  did  not  admit  of 
national  independence.     Since  these  institutions  could 

^  Jos.  Wars^  vii.  11:  1. 

2  Strabo,  cited  by  Josephus,  Antiq.  xiv.  7:  2. 

8  Juvenal,  Sat.  viii.  5:  186. 


RESULTS  OF  THE  FALL   OF  JERUSALEM.         415 

not  create  an  army,  they  could  exist  only  in  a  vassal 
State  under  a  great  Empire,  which  leaves  much  free- 
dom to  its  alien  subjects  (rat/ahs),  while  it  relieves 
them  of  the  cares  of  politics  by  requiring  of  them  no 
military  service.  The  rule  of  the  Persian  monarchy 
fully  satisfied  these  conditions  of  Jewish  life.  At  a 
later  day  the  Caliphate,  the  Ottoman  Empire,  were 
again  to  satisfy  them,  and  to  watch  the  unfolding, 
beneath  their  shield,  of  free  communities  like  those  of 
the  Armenians,  Parsees,  and  Greeks,  —  nations  without 
a  country;  brotherhoods,  making  good  the  lack  of 
political  and  military  independence  by  the  autonomy  of 
the  College  and  the  Church. 

The  Roman  Empire  was  not  flexible  enough  thus  to 
meet  the  needs  of  the  communities  it  embraced  in  its 
dominion.  Of  the  Four  Empires  this  was,  in  the  opin- 
ion  of  the  Jews,  the  cruellest  and  wickedest.^  Like 
Antiochus  Epiphanes,  the  Roman  Empire  forced  the 
Jewish  people  from  its  true  vocation,  thus  leading  it, 
by  reaction,  to  the  attempt  at  forming  a  separate  king- 
dom or  State.  This  attempt  was  not  due  to  those  who 
represented  the  true  genius  of  the  Hebrew  race.  In 
some  regards,  they  would  prefer  Romans  for  their 
rulers.  The  idea  of  a  Jewish  nationality  was  coming 
every  day  to  be  an  idea  of  the  past,  —  an  idea  of  mad- 
men and  fanatics,  against  which  the  pious  made  no 
scruple  of  appealing  to  the  protection  of  their  con- 
querors. The  true  Jew  —  clinging  to  the  Law  {Torah), 
making  the  sacred  books  (as  Christians  do)  his  rule  of 
life,  absorbed  in  his  hope  of  the  kingdom  of  God  — 
more  and  more  renounced  the  thought  of  earthly  na- 

^  Apocalypse  of  Baruch  in  Ceriani:  Monum.  sacra  et  pro/ana^  i.  82^ 
V.  136. 


4i6  ANTICHRIST. 

tionality.  The  principles  of  Judas  the  Gaulonite,  which 
were  the  soul  of  the  great  revolt,  were  principles  of 
Anarchy.  According  to  them,  since  God  is  Master,  no 
man  may  claim  that  title.  And  thus,  while  these  prin- 
ciples could  lead  forth  bands  of  fanatics  like  Cromwell's 
"  Independents,"  they  could  found  nothing  that  would 
last.  Such  tempestuous  explosions  were  an  indication 
how  thoroughly  the  heart  of  Israel  had  been  wrenched 
by  the  awful  task  laid  upon  it.  Forced  to  wrestle  with 
bloody  sweat  for  humanity  at  large,  he  must  perish,  as 
he  did,  in  a  death  of  frightful  agony. 

A  people  must,  in  fact,  choose  between  the  long, 
tranquil,  and  obscure  career  of  one  who  lives  for  him- 
self, and  the  stormy  and  vexed  career  of  one  who  lives 
for  man.  A  nation  whose  heart  is  divided  by  social 
and  religious  problems  is  almost  always  weak  as  a 
nation.  Every  country  that  dreams  of  a  kingdom  of 
God,  that  lives  for  universal  ideas,  and  undertakes  a 
task  for  the  general  advantage,  sacrifices  by  that  course 
its  own  particular  destiny.  It  enfeebles  and  annihilates 
the  part  it  might  sustain  as  a  political  entity.  So  it 
was  with  Judaaa,  with  Greece,  with  Italy ;  so  it  may 
yet  be  with  France.  It  is  not  with  impunity  that  one 
carries  fire  in  his  heart.  Jerusalem,  as  a  capital  of 
commonplace  citizens,  might  have  pursued  indefinitely 
a  commonplace  career.  Because  it  had  the  unparalleled 
glory  of  being  the  cradle  of  Christianity,  it  became  a 
prey  to  such  chieftains  as  John  of  Gischala  and  Si- 
mon Bar-Gioras,  —  seemingly  scourges  of  their  country, 
really  the  means  of  its  transfiguration.  Those  Zealots 
whom  Josephus  regards  as  brigands  and  assassins  were 
the  basest  of  politicians,  and  the  most  incompetent  of 
captains ;  but  they  ruined  heroically  a  country  which 


RESULTS  OF  THE  FALL   OF  JERUSALEM.  417 

was  incapable  of  being  saved.  They  destroyed  the 
visible  city ;  but  they  opened  the  realm  of  a  spiritual 
Jerusalem,  which,  seated  in  her  desolation,  was  far 
more  glorious  than  she  had  been  in  the  day  of  Herod 
or  of  Solomon. 

What,  in  truth,  was  the  aim  of  the  conservatives, 
the  Sadducees?  It  was  a  small  and  paltry  aim.  It 
was  to  maintain  a  city  of  priests,  like  Emesa,  Tyana, 
or  Comana.  Surely  they  spoke  the  truth  when  they 
said  that  the  uprising  of  enthusiasts  would  be  the  ruin 
of  the  nation.  Revolution  and  Messianism  were  indeed 
the  ruin  of  the  Jewish  people  considered  as  a  nation ; 
but  they  were  the  true  vocation  of  that  people,  its  one 
contribution  to  the  structure  of  a  world-wide  civilisa- 
tion. In  like  manner  we  speak  truly  when  we  say  to 
France,  "  Renounce  the  Revolution,  or  thou  art  lost !  " 
But,  if  any  one  of  the  ideas  obscurely  working  out  in 
the  people's  heart  has  the  promise  of  the  future,  it  will 
be  found  that  France  shall  be  fully  recompensed  for 
that  which  in  1870  and  1871  made  her  weakness  and 
her  misery.  Unless  by  some  very  violent  wrenching  of 
the  truth  (which  is  always  possible),  our  sons  of  the 
Revolution^  will  never  be  great  citizens;  but  let  each 
man  do  his  part,  and  we  shall  see,  perhaps,  that  such 
men  were  more  in  the  secrets  of  the  future  than  cooler 
heads. 

How,  now,  shall  Judaism  take  new  shape,  when  de- 
prived of  its  holy  city  and  its  temple  ?  How  will  the 
situation  which  events  have  brought  to  pass  for  Israel 
give  birth  to  the  spirit  of  the  Talmud  ?  This  will  ap- 
pear in  the  succeeding  volume.  In  one  sense,  Judaism 
had  no  longer  an  excuse  for  living  after  Christianity 

^  In  the  original,  nos  Bar-Gioms,  nos  Jean  de  Gischala, 
27 


4i8  ANTICHRIST, 

had  been  brouglit  forth.  From  that  hour  the  spirit  of 
life  was  departed  from  Jerusalem.  The  mother-church 
gave  all  to  the  child  of  her  sorrows,  and  spent  her  force 
in  that  sore  travail.  That  was  a  true  voice  of  the  an- 
cient Divinity  {Elohim)  which  men  thought  they  heard 
in  the  sanctuary,  murmuring,  "  Let  us  go  hence  !  "  The 
law  of  every  great  creation  is  that  its  creator,  in  be- 
stowing existence  upon  another,  virtually  gives  away 
his  own.  After  the  complete  transfusion  of  life  to  him 
who  is  to  bear  it  on,  the  giver  remains  but  a  sapless 
stem,  an  exhausted  stock.  Still,  this  sentence  of  Nature 
is  rarely  executed  upon  the  spot.  The  plant  which  has 
borne  the  flower  does  not  yet  consent  to  die.  The 
world  is  full  of  walking  skeletons  which  outlive  the 
decree  that  has  been  passed  upon  them.  Modern  Juda- 
ism is  one  of  these.  History  has  no  stranger  spectacle 
than  this,  —  the  spectral  existence  of  a  people  which 
for  more  than  a  thousand  years  has  lost  the  sense  of 
fact ;  which  has  written  not  a  single  page  that  can  be 
read,  or  given  a  single  precept  that  can  be  obeyed. 
Can  we  wonder  if,  after  having  lived  for  centuries  out 
of  the  atmosphere  of  human  life,  —  in  a  cavern,  if  I 
may  say  so,  in  a  condition  partially  demented,  —  it 
should  come  forth  pallid,  bewildered  by  the  light,  and 
bloodless  ? 

The  consequences  which  resulted  to  Christianity  from 
the  fall  of  Jerusalem  are  so  evident  that,  from  this  time 
forth,  it  is  easy  to  point  them  out.  I  have  already  had 
several  occasions  to  speak  of  them.^ 

The  ruin  of  Jerusalem  and  of  the  Temple  was  a  piece 
of  unexampled  good  fortune  for  Christianity.  If  Tac- 
itus correctly  reports  the  opinion  of  Titus,^  the  con- 

1  See  "Saint  Paul,"  chap.  xvii.  (end).  ^  gge  above,  p.  392. 


RESULTS  OF  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM.         419 

queror  believed  that  Christianity  and  Judaism  would 
perish  alike  in  the  destruction  of  the  Temple.  There 
was  never  a  more  complete  misjudgment.  The  Romans 
supposed  that,  in  tearing  away  the  root,  they  had  torn 
away  the  shoot.  But  the  shoot  was  already  a  tree,  liv- 
ing its  own  life.  If  the  Temple  had  remained,  Chris- 
tianity would  certainly  have  been  smothered  in  its 
growth.  The  Temple  would  have  continued  to  be  the 
centre  of  everything  that  Judaism  had  produced.  It 
would  never  have  ceased  to  be  looked  on  as  the  holiest 
spot  on  earth.-^  Hither  would  come  pilgrimages ;  here 
would  be  offered  pious  gifts.  Clinging  about  the  sacred 
courts,  the  church  at  Jerusalem  would  have  continued, 
in  virtue  of  its  primacy,  to  receive  homage  from  e very- 
land,  to  persecute  the  followers  of  Paul,  to  require  cir- 
cumcision and  the  observance  of  the  Mosaic  code  as 
the  condition  of  claiming  disci pleship  to  Jesus.  Every 
way  of  fruitful  expansion  would  have  been  cut  off; 
every  missionary  must  sign  a  pledge  of  obedience  to 
the  hierarchy  at  Jerusalem.'^  A  centre  of  inviolable 
authority  would  have  been  established,  with  a  patri- 
archate consisting  (so  to  speak)  of  a  college  of  cardi- 
nals under  the  presidency  of  such  men  as  James,  — 
Jews  of  unmixed  blood,  belonging  to  the  family  of 
Jesus.^     This  would  have  been  a  monstrous  danger  for 

1  See  above,  p.  313- 

2  See  "  Saint  Paul,"  chap,  x.,  and  the  letters  prefixed  to  the  Clemen- 
tine "  Homilies." 

8  Something  like  this  is  taking  place  among  the  Jews  of  our  day,  and 
seems  likely  to  grow  into  a  serious  tiling.  All  the  Jews  of  Jerusalem  are 
regarded  as  hakamim,  or  "  learned,"  having  no  other  occupation  than  to 
meditate  upon  the  Law.  As  such,  they  have  a  right  to  receive  alms,  and 
feel  that  they  ought  to  be  supported  by  the  Jews  of  all  the  world.  Their 
begging  agents  circulate  throughout  the  East,  and  even  rich  Israelites  of 
Europe  hold  themselves  in  duty  bound  to  contribute  to  their  demands 


420  ANTICHRIST, 

the  growing  Church.  When  we  see  Saint  Paul,  after 
all  the  ill-treatment  he  had  received,  remaining  still 
attached  to  the  church  at  Jerusalem,  we  may  conceive 
the  difficulty  of  any  break  with  these  holy  personages. 
Such  a  schism  would  have  been  regarded  as  an  enor- 
mity, as  the  same  thing  as  to  renounce  Christianity 
outright.  Separation  from  Judaism  would  have  been 
impossible.  But  this  separation  was  as  essential  to  the 
existence  of  the  new  religion  as  the  cutting  of  the  um- 
bilical cord  is  to  the  life  of  the  new-born  child.  The 
mother  would  else  deprive  her  child  of  life.  On  the 
contrary,  the  Temple  once  destroyed,  Christians  no 
longer  think  of  it ;  soon  they  will  even  hold  it  to  be 
an  unholy  place, —  "effete  and  empty,"  says  Orosius,* 
"  and  fit  for  no  good  use."  For  them  Jesus  will 
be  all. 

By  the  same  blow  the  church  at  Jerusalem  was 
brought  down  to  a  second  rank.  We  shall  see  it  ral- 
lying anew  about  the  element  that  gave  it  strength, 
—  the  members  of  the  family  of  Jesus  (Seo-Trocruj^ot, 
"the  Princes'')  the  sons  of  Cleopas;  but  it  will  reign 
no  more.  With  the  destruction  of  that  centre  of  hatred 
and  exclusion,  the  reconciliation  of  opposite  parties  in 
the  Church  becomes  easy.  Peter  and  Paul  are  officially 
made  at  one,  and  the  alarming  duality  of  infant  Chris- 
tianity ceases  at  length  to  be  a  deadly  hurt.  The  little 
group  that  clung  to  the  relatives  of  Jesus  —  to  James 
or  Cleopas  —  lives  forgotten,  secluded  in  Batanaea  and 

(see  "Saint  Paul,"  chap,  iii.,  xv.).  Again,  the  decisions  of  the  Great 
Kabbi  at  Jerusalem  tend  to  gain  universal  authority,  while  formerly  the 
doctors  were  of  equal  rank,  their  credit  depending  on  their  personal  repu- 
tation. Thus  the  future  may,  perhaps,  see  a  doctrinal  tribunal  of  Judaism 
having  its  seat  at  Jerusalem. 

^  HisU  adv.  paganos^  vii.  9  (early  in  the  fifth  century). 


RESULTS  OF  THE  FALL   OF  JERUSALEM.         421 

the  Haiiran.     Here,  as  the  Ebionitish  sect,  it  lingers 
out  a  slow  death  of  sterility  and  insignificance. 

In  many  respects  its  situation  was  like  that  of 
Catholicism  in  our  day.  No  religious  community  has 
ever  had  more  inward  activity,  more  readiness  to  put 
forth  its  own  original  productions,  than  the  Catholicism 
of  the  last  sixty  years.  All  these  efforts,  however, 
have  been  void  of  result  from  a  single  cause,  —  the 
autocratic  rule  of  the  court  of  Rome.  This  it  is  which 
has  driven  from  the  Church  such  minds  as  Lamennais, 
Hermes,  Dollinger,  Loyson  {le  Pere  Hf/acirdhe),  —  all  the 
apologists  who  have  defended  it  with  any  success.  It 
is  the  Roman  Curia  that  has  reduced  Lacordaire  and 
Montalembert  to  despair  and  impotence.  It  is  this  that, 
by  its  Syllabus  and  its  Council,  has  cut  away  all  future 
from  the  liberal  Catholics.  When  will  this  lamentable 
state  of  things  have  an  end  ?  It  will  be  when  Rome 
shall  be  no  longer  the  pontifical  city;  when  the  dan- 
gerous oligarchy  which  holds  Catholicism  in  its  grasp 
has  ceased  to  be.  The  occupation  of  Rome  by  the  King 
of  Italy  will  probably  be  reckoned  in  Catholic  history 
an  event  as  happy  as  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem 
has  proved  in  Christian  history.  Most  Catholics  have 
deplored  it,  as  no  doubt  the  Jewish  Christians  of  70 
deplored  the  destruction  of  the  Temple  as  the  most 
gloomy  of  disasters.  But  the  sequel  shows  how  super- 
ficial was  that  judgment.  While  weeping  the  fall  of 
papal  Rome,  Catholicism  will  find  that  loss  its  greatest 
gain.  Formal  unity  with  real  death  will  give  place  in 
its  communion  to  free  discussion,  movement,  variety, 
and  life. 


APPENDIX. 


OF   PETER'S    COMING   TO    ROME,    AND    OF  JOHN'S    STAY 
AT  EPHESUS. 

At  the  end  of  the  second  century,  as  all  are  agreed,  the  gen- 
eral belief  of  the  Christian  churches  was  that  the  apostle 
Peter  suffered  martyrdom  at  Rome,  and  that  the  apostle 
John  lived  to  extreme  old  age  at  Ephesus.  Protestant  theo- 
logians of  the  sixteenth  century  argued  strongly  that  Peter 
never  came  to  Rome,  —  an  opinion  which  Luther  opposed 
when  it  first  appeared,  in  1520,  but  which  Flacius  Illyricus 
and  Salmasius  made  a  received  belief  among  Protestants.  The 
belief  of  John's  residence  at  Ephesus  has  never  been  seriously 
controverted  until  our  own  day. 

It  is  easy  to  detect  the  motive  of  the  emphasis  with  which 
Protestants  generally  have  denied  that  Peter  ever  came  to 
Rome.  Throughout  the  Middle  Age  his  residence  there  was 
the  foundation  of  the  exorbitant  claims  of  the  papacy.  These 
claims  rested  on  tliree  assertions  which  were  held  to  be  arti- 
cles of  faith :  (1)  that  Jesus  himself  conferred  upon  Peter 
primacy  in  his  Church  ;  (2)  that  this  primacy  must  have  been 
transmitted  to  the  successors  of  Peter  ;  (3)  that  these  succes- 
sors are  the  bishops  of  Rome,  since  Peter,  after  remaining  a 
time  at  Jerusalem  and  then  at  Antioch,  had  fixed  his  residence 
definitely  at  Rome.  To  disprove  this  last  assertion  was,  ac- 
cordingly, to  overthrow  the  entire  edifice  of  Roman  theology. 
Much  learning  was  spent  upon  the  question.  It  was  shown 
that  the  Roman  tradition  was  not  sustained  by  very  substan- 
tial direct  testimony ;  but  indirect  evidence  was  treated  lightly. 
In  particular,  there  was  weary  discussion  on  the  passage. 


424  APPENDIX, 

dcrird^eraL  v/jLd<;  rj  iv  Ba^vXcovL  avv€K\eKTrj  (1  Pet.  v.  13).^ 
Now  it  cannot  be  maintained  that  "  Babylon"  in  this  passage 
really  means  the  city  on  the  Euphrates  :  first,  because  "  Baby- 
lon," in  the  esoteric  language  of  Christians  at  this  time,  al- 
ways means  Rome ;  secondly,  because  Christianity  in  the 
first  century  hardly  went  outside  the  limits  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  and  was  very  little  current  among  the  Parthians. 

To  us  the  question  is  far  less  important  than  it  was  to  the 
Reformers ;  ^  and  we  find  it  easier  than  they  did  to  discuss  it 
without  bias.  We  do  not  believe  in  the  least  that  Jesus  had 
any  such  design  as  to  establish  an  official  Head  in  his  Church  ; 
still  less,  to  attach  this  headship  to  the  episcopal  succession 
in  any  particular  city.  Almost  certainly  no  thought  of  an 
episcopate  was  in  his  mind  ;  and  besides,  if  there  was  any  city 
in  the  world  known  to  him  by  name,  which  he  could  have  had 
no  thought  of  associating  with  such  succession,  it  unquestion- 
ably was  Rome.  It  would  surely  have  inspired  him  with  hor- 
ror, if  he  had  been  told  that  this  city  of  perdition,  this  merciless 
foe  to  the  people  of  God,  would  one  day  vaunt  its  Satanic  roy- 
alty as  the  ground  of  its  own  right  to  inherit  the  new  title  of 
power  founded  by  the  Son  of  God.  Whether  Peter  was  ever 
at  Rome  or  not  is,  accordingly,  not  of  the  slightest  importance 
for  us,  political  or  moral.  It  is,  simply,  a  curious  question  of 
history.     That  is  all. 

At  the  outset,  the  Catholic  position  is  open  to  most  serious 
attack  from  its  unfortunate  assumption  (taken  from  Euse- 
bius  and  Jerome)  that  Peter  came  to  Rome  in  the  year  42, 
thus  extending  his  residence  there  as  pontiff  to  twenty-three 
or  twenty-four  years.  This  is  utterly  out  of  the  question. 
To  remove  any  doubt  about  it,  we  have  only  to  consider  that 
the  persecution  at  Jerusalem  under  Herod  Agrippa,  in  which 

^  Rendered  in  the  Revised  Version,  "  She  that  is  in  Babylon,  elect  to- 
gether with  [you],  saluteth  you."  —  Ed. 

2  The  final  and  most  learned  form  given  to  Protestant  doubts  upon 
this  subject  is  found  in  the  two  essays  of  Lipsius  :  "  Chronologie  der 
romiscTien  Bischofe  bis  zur  Mitte  des  vierten  Jahrhunderts  (^Kiel,  1869)  ;  Die 
Quellen  der  romischen  Petrussage  {ibid.  1872). 


OF  PETER'S  COMING   TO  ROME.  425 

Peter  suffered  imprisonment  and  exile  (as  related  in  Acts  xii. 
3-19),  occurred  in  the  same  year  with  the  death  of  Herod; 
that  is,  in  44.^  Apollonius,  the  anti-Montanist,  at  the  end 
of  the  second  century ,2  and  Lactantius,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  fourth,^  surely  did  not  believe  that  Peter  had  been  at 
Kome  in  42 :  the  former  affirming  the  tradition  that  Jesus 
had  forbidden  his  apostles  to  leave  Jerusalem  within  twelve 
years  after  his  death ;  the  latter  asserting  that  they  devoted 
the  twenty-five  years  following  their  Master's  death  to  preach- 
ing the  gospel  in  the  provinces,  and  that  Peter  did  not  go  to 
Rome  till  after  the  accession  of  Nero.  It  would  be  idle  to 
contend  at  length  against  an  assumption  which  no  reasonable 
person  can  defend.  I  may  go  farther,  and  say  that  Peter  had 
not  yet  arrived  in  Rome  when  Paul  was  brought  thither  as  a 
prisoner  in  61.  We  find  a  further  argument  in  Paul's  Epistle 
to  the  Romans,  written  about  58,  —  at  all  events  not  more 
than  two  and  a  half  years  before  his  arrival  in  Rome ;  for  we 
cannot  easily  imagine  that  he  should  write  to  a  community 
of  which  Peter  was  the  head  without  the  slightest  mention  of 
him.  Still  more  decisive  is  the  last  chapter  of  Acts.  This 
chapter  —  especially  the  verses  (17-29)  telling  of  Paul's  inter- 
view with  the  Jews  at  Rome  —  cannot  be  explained  if  Peter 
was  there  when  Paul  arrived.  I  may  assume  it,  then,  as 
absolutely  proved,  that  Peter  did  not  go  to  Rome  before  Paul, 
—  that  is,  before  61,  or  thereabout. 

But  did  he  not  go  there  after  Paul  ?  This  the  Protestant 
critics  have  never  succeeded  in  disproving.  Not  only  is  there 
no  impossibility  in  such  a  later  journey,  but  strong  reasons 
may  be  urged  in  its  favour.  I  think  that  those  who  will  read 
consecutively  tlie  account  which  I  liave  given  will  find  that 
everything  shapes  itself  easily  to  this  view.  The  evidence  of 
the  Fathers  of  the  second  and  third  centuries  has  some  weight 
in  the  decision  ;  and  there  are,  besides,  three  arguments  which 
appear  to  me  worth  considering. 

1  Jos.  Ant.  xix.  8:2;  see   "  The  Apostles,"  chap,  xiv, 

2  Euseb.  V.  18:14. 

'  De  mortibus  persecutorunij  2. 


426  APPENDIX. 

First,  the  fact  is  not  to  be  disputed  that  Peter  suffered 
martyrdom.  The  testimonies  of  the  Fourth  Gospel,  the  Roman 
Clement,  the  fragment  called  "  Canon  of  Muratori,"  Dionysius 
of  Corinth,  Caius,  and  Tertullian  leave  no  doubt  upon  it.^ 
Granting  that  the  Fourth  Gospel  is  apocryphal,  and  that  the 
twenty-first  chapter  is  a  later  addition,  still  it  is  clear  that 
the  verses  (18-19)  in  which  Jesus  predicts  to  Peter  a  death 
like  his  own  give  expression  to  an  opinion  well  fixed  in  the 
churches  before  120  or  130,  alluded  to  here  and  elsewhere  as 
a  fact  known  to  all.  Now  we  cannot  easily  put  it  to  ourselves 
that  Peter  suffered  a  martyr's  death  anywhere  else  than  at 
Rome.  Nero's  persecution,  in  fact,  was  hardly  violent  ex- 
cepting there.  At  Jerusalem  or  Antioch,  the  martyrdom  of 
Peter  is  far  less  intelligible. 

In  the  second  place,  the  name  "  Babylon,"  in  the  epistle 
commonly  ascribed  to  Peter  (v.  13),  evidently  points  to  Rome. 
If  the  epistle  is  genuine,  the  passage  is  decisive.  If  it  is 
apocryphal,  the  inference  to  be  drawn  from  the  words  is 
equally  strong.  Whoever  the  writer  may  be,  he  wishes  us 
to  believe  that  the  epistle  is  Peter's  own.  Hence,  to  give  his 
fraud  the  semblance  of  truth,  he  must  so  arrange  the  local 
circumstances  as  to  conform  to  what  he  knew  himself,  or  to 
what  was  generally  believed  in  his  time,  about  the  life  of 
Peter.  If,  with  this  motive,  he  dated  the  epistle  at  Rome,  we 
may  be  sure  that  the  common  opinion  of  the  time  when  it 
was  written  was  that  Peter  had  lived  in  Rome.  On  any  the- 
ory it  is  a  very  ancient  work,  of  early  and  great  authority .^ 

Again,  the  theory  which  underlies  tlie  Ebionite  ''  Acts  of 
Peter  "  is  also  well  worthy  of  consideration.  In  this  view 
Peter  is  shown  to  us  as  everywhere  following  the  steps  of 
Simon  Magus  (by  which  name  we  understand  that  Paul  is 
meant),  to  contend  against  his  errors.  This  curious  legend 
has  been  analysed  by  Lipsius  ^  with  admirable  critical  acu- 

1  See  above,  pp.  161-163.  2  g^e  p.  4,  above. 

8  In  Roinische  Petrussage,  p.  13  et  seq.,  esp.  16,  18,  41,  42.  Comp.  the 
*'  Clementine  Recognitions,"  i.  74;  iii.  65  ;  also  the  apocryphal  epistle 
of  Clement  addressed  to  James,  at  the  beginning  of  the  ''  Homilies," 
chap.  i. 


OF  JOHN'S  STAY  AT  EPHESUS,  427 

men.  He  shows  us  that  the  basis  of  the  various  versions  of 
the  legends  that  have  come  down  to  us  was  an  original  ac- 
count, written  about  130.  In  this  account  Peter  comes  to 
Rome  to  defeat  Simon-Paul  at  the  centre  of  his  power,  and 
here  meets  his  death,  after  he  has  overthrown  this  father  of 
all  heresies.  It  is  hard  to  see  how  the  Ebionite  writer,  at  so 
remote  a  date,  could  have  ascribed  so  much  importance  to 
Peter's  journey  to  Rome  if  he  never  really  made  it.  The 
Ebionite  legend  has,  doubtless,  some  ground  of  truth  notwith- 
standing the  errors  mingled  in  it.  We  may  admit  that  Peter 
came  to  Rome,  as  he  came  to  Antioch,  in  the  footsteps  of 
Paul,  and  in  part  to  neutralise  his  influence.  The  Christian 
community,  toward  the  year  60,  was  in  a  state  of  mind  not  at 
all  like  that  calm  waiting  of  the  twenty  years  succeeding  the 
death  of  Jesus.  The  missionary  journeys  of  Paul,  and  the 
ease  with  which  the  Jews  went  from  place  to  place,  had 
brought  about  a  custom  of  distant  travel.  In  the  same  way 
an  old  and  persistent  tradition  represents  the  apostle  Philip 
as  coming  to  make  his  abode  in  Hierapolis. 

I  hold,  then,  as  very  probable,  the  tradition  of  Peter's  stay 
in  Rome ;  but  I  regard  this  stay  as  very  short,  and  believe 
that  he  suffered  martyrdom  not  long  after  his  arrival.  The 
account  of  Tacitus  in  his  "  Annals  "  (xv.  44)  falls  in  favour- 
ably with  this  view.  In  this  account  we  find  a  very  natural 
occasion  for  connecting  with  it  the  death  of  Peter.  As  the 
leader  of  the  Judaeo-Christians,  he  undoubtedly  helped  make 
up  the  list  of  victims  described  by  Tacitus  as  crucihus  adjixi  ; 
and  among  the  holy  martyrs  of  the  year  64,  who  rejoice  in  the 
ruin  of  the  city  where  they  perished,  the  Seer  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse has  done  well  to  include  "  apostles  "  along  with  "  saints 
and  prophets  "  (xviii.  20). 

The  coming  of  John  to  Ephesus  was  an  event  of  far  less 
doctrinal  importance  that  that  of  Peter  to  Rome,  and  has  not 
given  rise  to  so  extended  controversy.  Until  a  very  recent 
time  the  commonly  accepted  opinion  has  been  that  John  the 
apostle,  son  of  Zebedee,  died  at  a  very  advanced  age  in  the 


428  APPENDIX, 

capital  of  the  province  of  Asia.  Even  those  who  declined  to 
believe  that  during  his  stay  here  he  composed  the  Gospel  and 
the  Epistles  bearing  his  name,  even  those  who  denied  that  he 
was  the  writer  of  the  Apocalypse,  continued  to  believe  that 
his  journey  thither,  attested  by  tradition,  was  real.  Some 
rational  doubts  were  raised  upon  this  point  by  Liitzelber- 
ger,  in  1840 ;  but  little  heed  was  given  to  them.  Critics  who 
can  surely  be  charged  with  no  excess  of  credulity,  —  Baur, 
Strauss,  Schwegler,  Zeller,  Hilgenfeld,  Volkmar,  —  while 
holding  a  large  part  of  the  accounts  of  John's  residence  at 
Ephesus  to  be  legendary,  have  yet  regarded  as  historical  the 
main  fact  of  his  coming  into  this  region.  This  opinion  was 
seriously  challenged,  in  1867,  by  Keim,  in  the  first  volume 
of  his  "  Life  of  Jesus,"  ^  his  position  being  that  "  John  the 
Elder  "  has  been  confused  with  "  John  the  Apostle,"  and  that 
what  ecclesiastical  writers  have  asserted  of  the  latter  should 
be  understood  as  of  the  former ;  and  in  this  view  he  was  fol- 
lowed by  Wittichen  and  Holtzmann.  Still  more  recently 
Professor  Scholten,  of  the  University  of  Leyden,  has  sought 
in  an  extended  treatise  to  overthrow,  one  by  one,  all  the  evi- 
dences of  the  commonly  received  opinion,  and  to  prove  that 
John  the  Apostle  never  set  foot  in  Asia.^ 

Scholten's  essay  is  a  real  masterpiece  of  argument  and 
method.  He  passes  in  review  not  only  all  the  testimonies 
cited  for  or  against  the  tradition,  but  all  writings,  besides,  in 
which  the  question  might  be,  or  (as  he  thinks)  should  be, 
entertained.  Tlie  learned  professor  had  once  been  of  a  differ- 
ent mind.  In  his  extended  reasonings  against  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  Fourth  Gospel,  he  had  strongly  urged  the  passage  in 
which  Polycrates  of  Ephesus,  near  the  end  of  the  second  cen- 
tury, represents  John  as  having  been  one  of  the  pillars  of  the 
Jewish  and  Quartodeciman  party  in  Asia.  But,  in  a  difficult 
question  like  this,  it  is  not  for  a  friend  of  truth  to  count  the 
cost  of  changing  or  correcting  a  position  once  taken. 

1  Pages  161-167;  compare  vol.  iii.  (1871-72),  pp.  44,  45;  477,  notes. 

2  Be  apostel  Johannes  in  Klein-Azie  (Leyden,  1871).  The  question  has 
been  resumed  by  Holtzmann  in  his  Kritik  der  Eph.  und  Kolosserhriefe 
(Leipzig,  1872),  pp.  314-324. 


OF  JOHN'S  STA  Y  AT  EPHESUS.  429 

To  me  the  arguments  of  Professor  Scholten  are  not  con- 
vincing. In  them  the  removal  of  John  into  Asia  Minor  is 
shown  to  be  an  open  question.  But  they  do  not  make  it  out 
to  be  certainly  apocryphal ;  and,  as  I  regard  it,  the  chances 
still  are  that  the  tradition  is  true.  It  is  less  probable,  indeed, 
than  the  tradition  of  Peter's  residence  in  Rome,  but  still  it 
has  its  probability;  and,  on  various  points,  Scholten  has 
given  evidence  of  an  exaggerated  scepticism.  As  I  have 
said  more  than  once,  a  theologian  is  never  quite  satisfying  as 
a  critic.  Professor  Scholten  has  a  mind  too  elevated  to  allow 
himself  ever  to  be  controlled  by  motives  of  advocacy  or  of 
dogma  ;  but  a  theologian  is  by  habit  so  apt  to  subordinate  the 
fact  to  the  idea,  that  he  rarely  regards  a  point  in  dispute  with 
the  eyes  of  an  unprejudiced  historian.  In  these  last  five  and 
twenty  years  especially,  we  have  seen  the  Liberal  Protestant 
school  committing  itself  to  a  drift  of  extreme  negation,  where 
impartial  science,  finding  in  these  topics  purely  matter  of 
interesting  research,  may  well  hesitate  to  follow.  The  re- 
ligious situation  has  come  to  such  a  pass  that  the  defence 
of  supernatural ist  dogma  is  thought  to  be  made  easier  by 
handling  texts  with  a  free  hand  and  making  large  sacrifice 
of  them  than  by  urging  tlieir  authenticity.  And  I  am  con- 
fident that  a  critical  method  clear  of  all  theological  bias  will 
one  day  find  that  the  liberal  Protestant  theologians  of  our  day 
have  gone  too  far  in  their  negations ;  and  that  in  some  of  its 
results  —  certainly  not  in  its  spirit — such  a  method  will 
approach  more  nearly  to  the  old  traditionary  schools. 

Among  the  documents  passed  in  review  by  Professor  Schol- 
ten, the  Apocalypse  naturally  stands  in  the  foremost  rank; 
and  it  is  just  here  that  this  able  critic  shows  himself  weakest. 
We  have  our  choice  of  three  positions :  that  the  Apocalypse 
is  the  work  of  the  Apostle  John ;  or  that  it  is  by  some  one 
writing  under  a  false  name  who  wishes  to  make  it  pass  as  a 
work  of  the  apostle  John ;  or  that  it  is  by  some  one  of  the 
same  name  —  for  example,  John  Mark,  or  the  enigmatical 
"  John  the  Elder."  In  the  last  case  the  Apocalypse,  clearly, 
has  nothing  to  do  with  the  apostle's  residence  in  Asia ;  but 


430  APPENDIX. 

the  hypothesis  is  little  likely  in  itself,  and  it  is  not  that 
adopted  by  Scholten.  He  is  in  favour  of  the  second  of  the 
three  cases  supposed.  He  holds  the  Apocalypse  to  be  an 
apocryphal  work  like  the  book  of  Daniel ;  and  thinks  that  the 
composer  (following  a  common  Jewish  practice  of  the  time) 
wished  to  shield  himself  under  an  honoured  name,  choosing 
that  of  the  apostle  John  as  one  of  the  pillars  of  the  church  at 
Jerusalem,  and  addressing  the  churches  in  Asia  in  the  person 
of  that  venerated  leader.  Since  such  a  forgery  can  scarcely 
be  imagined  in  the  lifetime  of  the  apostle,  Scholten  holds  that 
John  had  died  before  the  year  68. 

But  this  view  rests  on  real  impossibilities.  However  it 
may  be  with  the  genuineness  of  the  Apocalypse,  I  venture  to 
say  that  the  argument  founded  on  that  book  for  tlie  residence 
of  John  in  Asia  is  quite  as  strong  in  the  second  of  the  cases 
supposed  as  in  the  first.  We  have  not  here  to  do  with  a  book 
like  "  Daniel,"  written  hundreds  of  years  after  the  assumed 
writer's  death.  The  Apocalypse  was  circulated  among  the 
disciples  in  Asia  during  the  winter  of  68-69,  while  the  con- 
flict among  the  generals  for  succession  to  the  Empire,  and  the 
appearance  of  the  pretended  Nero  at  Cythnos,  held  all  the 
world  in  feverish  expectation.  If  the  apostle  John  was  dead, 
as  Scholten  supposed,  his  death  was  very  recent.  In  any 
event,  on  this  theory,  the  disciples  at  Ephesus,  Smyrna,  and 
elsewhere,  knew  perfectly  well  at  that  time  that  he  had  never 
been  in  Asia.  How  would  they  have  received  the  story  of  a 
vision  claiming  to  have  taken  place  at  Patmos,  only  a  few 
leagues  from  Epliesus  ?  That  story  is  addressed  to  the  seven 
leading  churches  of  Asia  by  a  man  assumed  to  know  the  hid- 
den windings  of  their  conscience.  To  some  he  allots  the 
sharpest  reproach,  to  others  the  most  exalted  praise.  He 
speaks  to  them  in  the  tone  of  undisputed  authority.  He 
exhibits  himself  as  a  sharer  in  their  sufferings.  And  yet  this 
man  has  never  set  foot  in  Patmos  or  in  Asia  ;  they  must  think 
of  him  as  still  sitting  quietly  in  Jerusalem  !  The  writer,  we 
must  suppose,  had  very  little  sense,  to  heap  together  with 
a  light  heart  so  many  reasons  for  ill-will  against  his  book. 


OF  JOHN'S  STA  Y  AT  EPHESUS.  431 

Why  does  he  put  the  scene  of  the  vision  at  Patmos  ?  Up 
to  this  time  that  island  had  been  a  place  of  no  note,  no 
significance.  It  was  a  mere  way-station  on  the  sail  from 
Ephesus  to  Rome  or  from  Rome  to  Ephesus.  On  these  trips, 
Patmos  offered  a  convenient  port  of  relay,  at  a  short  day's 
sail  from  Ephesus,  —  the  first  or  the  last  landing  in  such 
petty  voyages  as  those  described  in  Acts,  where  the  main 
point  was  to  stop  over,  if  possible,  every  night.  It  was  not  of 
consequence  enough  to  be  the  object  of  a  voyage ;  it  was 
likely  to  be  visited  only  by  some  one  going  to  or  coming  from 
Ephesus.  Even  granting  the  Apocalypse  to  be  a  forgery,  the 
first  three  chapters  make  a  strong  argument  for  the  residence 
of  John  in  Asia;  just  as  First  Peter,  even  if  apocryphal, 
gives  very  good  reason  to  believe  that  Peter  abode  in  Rome. 
A  forger,  however  credulous  the  public  he  addresses,  always 
seeks  to  make  tlie  circumstances  of  his  invention  such  that 
it  will  be  easily  received.  If  the  writer  of  First  Peter  be^ 
lieves  himself  bound  to  date  his  epistle  from  Rome,  —  if  the 
writer  of  the  Apocalypse  thinks  to  provide  a  good  prelude 
to  his  vision  by  making  it  date  from  the  very  threshold  of 
Asia,  almost  in  front  of  Ephesus,  and  fitting  it  out  with  coun- 
sels such  as  might  be  given  by  a  spiritual  director  to  the 
churches  in  Asia,  —  the  reason  is  that  Peter  was  in  Rome, 
and  John  in  Asia.  Dionysius  of  Alexandria,  at  the  end  of 
the  third  century,  had  a  clear  sense  of  the  embarrassing  na- 
ture of  the  question  so  stated.^  Feeling  that  antipathy  against 
the  Apocalypse  common  to  all  the  Greek  Fathers  filled  with 
the  true  Hellenic  spirit,  he  brings  together  all  the  objections 
to  ascribing  such  a  work  to  the  apostle  John;  but  he  ac- 
knowledges that  it  can  have  been  composed  only  by  some  one 
who  has  lived  in  Asia,  and  so  comes  down  to  men  of  the  same 
name :  so  clearly  does  it  stand  in  relief  that  the  real  or  sup- 
posed writer  of  the  Apocalypse  was  some  one  in  near  relation 
with  [the  churches  in]  Asia. 

We  are  indebted  to  Professor  Scholten  for  a  valuable  dis- 
cussion on  the  text  of  Papias.     This  "  ancient  man  "  {apxalo^ 

^  Comp.  Euseb.  vii.'25. 


432  APPENDIX, 

avqp)  has  had  the  fortune  to  be  misunderstood,  from  Irenaeus, 
who  wrongly  make  him  a  hearer  of  the  apostle  John,  to 
Eusebius,  who  wrongly  supposes  that  he  had  personal  knowl- 
edge of  "John  the  Elder."  Keim  had  already  shown  that 
the  text  of  Papias,  rightly  understood,  tells  rather  against 
than  for  the  residence  of  the  apostle  John  in  Asia.  Scholten 
goes  farther,  and  concludes  from  the  same  passage  that  John 
the  Elder  also  was  a  stranger  to  Asia  Minor,  holding  that 
he  —  whom  he  regards  as  distinct  from  the  apostle  —  lived  in 
Palestine  and  was  a  contemporary  of  Papias.  I  grant  that,  if 
the  passage  of  Papias  is  correct,  it  bears  against  the  residence 
of  the  apostle  John  in  Asia.  But  is  it  correct  ?  The  words 
rj  TL  'Icodvvq^  may  be  an  interpolation.  If  any  think  the 
rejection  of  them  to  be  arbitrary,  I  would  reply  that,  if  those 
words  be  retained,  then  the  words  ol  tov  KvpLov  fiaOr^ral,  put 
after  Aristion  and  John  the  Elder,  make  the  entire  clause  odd 
and  incoherent.  Scholten's  doubts,  however,  are  confirmed 
by  a  passjige  of  Papias  quoted  by  George  Hamartolus,^  stating 
that  John  was  put  to  death  by  the  Jews.  This  tradition 
seems  to  have  been  invented  to  fulfil  certain  words  of  Jesus, — 
"  Ye  shall  drink  indeed  of  my  cup,"  ^  etc. ;  it  is  irreconcilable 
with  John's  stay  at  Ephesus  ;  and  if  Papias  really  adopted  it,^ 
he  certainly  never  once  thought  of  him  as  living  in  the  Prov- 
ince of  Asia.  It  would  surely  surprise  us  to  find  a  man  like 
Papias,  an  eager  inquirer  into  the  apostolic  tradition,  ignorant 
of  so  essential  a  fact  in  the  annals  of  his  own  country. 

The  fact  that  no  mention  of  John's  residence  in  Asia  is 

1  First  published  by  the  Abbe  Norle  in  the  Theol.  Quartalschrifl  (a 
journal  of  Catholic  theology  at  Tiibingen),  1862,  p.  466.  Comp.  Holtz- 
mann,  Krit.  der  Eph.  und  KoL,  p.  322  ;  Keim,  Gesch.  Jcsu  von  Nazara, 
iii.  44,  45  n.;  and  the  later  observations  of  Scholten  in  the  Theologisch 
Tijdschrifl  (Amsterdam  and  Leyden),  1872,  p.  325  et  seq. 

2  Matt.  XX.  23 ;  Mark  x.  39. 

8  As  to  which  there  is  some  doubt.  George  Hamartolus  adds  that 
Origen  was  of  the  same  opinion,  which  is  utterly  untrue.  See  Origen,  In 
Matt.,  vol.  xvi.  6.  Heracleon,  too,  includes  John  among  the  apostles 
who  were  martyrs  :  Clem.  Alex.  Strom,  iv.  9.  Such  incidents  as  that  of 
the  boiling  oil,  and  the  passage  Revel,  i.  9,  are  enough  to  warrant  the 
expression. 


OF  JOHN'S  STAY  AT  EPHESUS.  433 

found  in  the  epistles  ascribed  to  Ignatius,  or  in  Hegesippus, 
suggests  a  doubt.  On  the  other  hand,  the  tradition  of  it  is 
constant  from  the  year  180.  Apollonius  the  anti-Montanist, 
Polycrates,  Irenaeus,  Clement  of  Alexandria,  and  Origen  make 
no  question  of  the  great  honour  which  came  thus  to  the  city 
of  Ephesus.  Among  the  texts  that  may  be  cited,^  two  are 
especially  noteworthy :  that  of  Polycrates,  bishop  of  Ephesus 
about  196,  and  that  of  Irenaeus  in  his  letter  to  Florinus  of 
nearly  the  same  date.  Professor  Scholten  treats  too  lightly 
the  language  of  Polycrates.  It  is  a  weighty  point,  to  find  the 
tradition  so  firmly  established  at  Ephesus  within  a  century. 
"  The  very  uncritical  mind  of  Polycrates,"  he  says,  "  appears 
in  his  representing  John  as  decorated  with  the  petalon  [the 
golden  badge  of  the  high-priest],  thus  by  an  anachronism  car- 
rying back  to  the  apostolic  period  a  custom  of  his  own  time, 
which  assigned  the  rank  of  high-priest  to  a  Christian  bishop." 
But  Professor  Scholten  did  not  always  think  so.  He  formerly 
found  in  the  petalon^  and  in  the  title  of  "  priest,***  given  to 
John  by  Polycrates,  a  proof  that  this  apostle  was  chief  of  the 
Juda3o-Christian  party  in  Asia.  He  was  right.  The  petalon, 
far  from  being  a  bishop's  badge  in  the  second  century,  is  as- 
cribed to  only  two  persons,  both  of  the  first  century,  —  James 
and  John,  both  belonging  to  the  Judaeo-Christian  party,  whom 
this  party  thought  to  exalt  by  assigning  to  them  the  insignia 
of  the  Jewish  high-priest.  Both  Keim  and  Scholten  make  it 
a  charge  against  Polycrates,  that  he  believes  the  Philip  who 
came  with  his  prophetess-daughters  to  live  in  Hierapolis  to 
have  been  Philip  the  apostle.  I  think  that  Polycrates  is  right ; 
and  that,  if  we  compare  the  passage  in  Acts^  [which  speaks 
of  "Philip  the  Evangelist"]  with  the  passages  of  Papias,  Pro- 
clus,  Polycrates,  and  Clement,  which  speak  of  Philip  and  his 
daughters  resident  in  Hierapolis,^  we  shall  be  satisfied  that  it 
is  the  apostle  who  is  meant.  The  verse  in  Acts  has  all  the 
appearance  of  an  interpolation.     Holtzmann  *  seems  to  adopt, 

^  See  note  on  pp.  175,  176,  above.  2  ^cts  xxi.  8. 

«  See  pp.  273-275,  above;  also  "  The  Apostles,"  chap.  ix. 
*  Judenthum  und  Christenthum^  p.  719. 
2S 


434  APPENDIX, 

as  to  this,  the  view  which  I  had  offered  in  "  The  Apostles," 
and  of  which  I  am  more  convinced  than  ever. 

The  most  curious  passage  of  all  in  the  Church  Fathers 
on  the  question  in  hand  is  a  fragment  of  Irenaeus's  letter  to 
Florinus,  preserved  to  us  in  Eusebius  (v.  20).  It  is  one  of 
the  choice  passages  in  the  Christian  literature  of  the  second 
century :  "  Those  opinions,  Florinus,  are  not  of  sound  doc- 
trine. .  .  .  They  are  not  such  as  were  handed  down  by  the 
elders  who  preceded  us,  or  were  known  to  the  Apostles.  I 
remember  that  when  I  was  a  boy  in  Lower  Asia,  where  you 
held  high  office  at  court,  I  saw  you  with  Folycarp,  seeking  to 
win  his  good  esteem.  I  remember  what  happened  then  better 
than  I  do  things  that  have  happened  since ;  for  what  we  have 
learned  in  childhood  grows  with  the  mind,  and  comes  to  be  a 
part  of  it.  So  that  1  could  tell  you  the  very  spot  where  the 
blessed  Folycarp  sat  and  talked,  his  gait  and  habit,  his  ways 
of  living,  his  personal  appearance  and  manner  of  converse 
with  his  companions,  how  he  would  tell  of  his  familiar  ac- 
quaintance with  John  and  others  who  had  seen  our  Lord.  He 
would  relate  to  us,  also,  what  he  had  heard  them  say  about 
our  Lord,  and  about  his  wonderful  works  and  doctrine,  as 
having  received  these  things  from  eye-witnesses  of  the  Word 
of  Life,  all  in  conformity  with  the  Scriptures.  Thanks  to 
God's  goodness,  I  would  listen  diligently  to  these  things,  and 
write  them  down,  not  on  paper  but  in  my  heart ;  and,  thank 
God,  I  always  record  them  truly.  And  I  may  assert,  in  God's 
presence,  that  if  that  blessed  and  apostolic  old  man  had  heard 
anything  like  your  doctrines,  he  would  have  stopped  his  ears, 
and  cried  out,  as  he  would  sometimes  do, '  0  good  God !  to 
what  a  time  hast  thou  preserved  me,  that  I  should  endure 
such  discourse  ? '  And  he  would  have  fled  away  from  the 
place  Jw^here  he  had  heard  them." 

W/e  see  that  Irenaeus  does  not  appeal  here,  as  in  most 
other  passages  where  he  speaks  of  John's  residence  in  Asia, 
to  a  vague  tradition.  He  recalls  to  Florinus  the  memories  of 
childhood  about  their  common  master  Folycarp,  one  of  which 
is  that  Folycarp  would  often  speak  of  his  relations  with  the 


OF  JOHN'S  STA  Y  AT  EPHESUS,  435 

apostle  John.  Professor  Scholten  has  clearly  seen  that  he 
must  admit  these  reports  as  genuine,  or  else  make  the  epistle 
to  Florinus  to  be  apocryphal.  He  takes  the  latter  alterna- 
tive, for  reasons  which  seem  to  me  weak.  In  the  first  place, 
Irenaeus  expresses  himself  in  the  work  "  Against  Heresies  " 
(iii.  3 :  4)  almost  exactly  as  he  does  in  the  letter  to  Florinus. 
Scholten's  chief  objection  turns  on  this :  that  to  explain  such 
relations  between  John  and  Polycarp,  we  must  suppose  all 
three  —  John,  Polycarp,  and  Irenaeus — to  have  been  unusually 
long-lived.  This  does  not  disturb  me  much.  The  death  of 
John,  at  the  earliest,  was  not  before  somewhere  between  a.  d. 
80  and  90,  while  Irenaeus  wrote  about  180.  That  is,  Irenaeus 
was  about  as  far  from  the  last  years  of  John  as  we  are  from 
those  of  Voltaire.  Now,  without  any  miracle  of  longevity,  my 
colleague  and  friend  M.  R^musat  knew  intimately  the  abb^ 
Morellet,  who  would  talk  to  him  at  length  about  Voltaire. 
The  supposed  difficulty  in  the  circumstance  reported  by  Ire- 
naeus comes  from  assigning  the  martyrdom  of  Polycarp  to  the 
reign  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  somewhere  between  166  and  169. 
At  his  death  Polycarp  was  eighty-six  years  old,  which  would 
carry  back  his  birth  to  80-83,  making  him  very  young  at  the 
time  of  John's  death.  But  the  date  of  his  martyrdom  must 
be  corrected.  It  took  place  under  the  proconsulate  of  Quad- 
ratus  in  Asia ;  and  this  has  been  shown  by  Waddington,  in 
a  manner  which  hardly  admits  of  doubt,  to  have  been  in 
154-155,  under  Antoninus  Pius.^  This  carries  back  the  birth 
of  Polycarp  to  68  or  69 ;  and  if  John  was  living  as  late  as  90, 
—  in  which  there  is  no  difficulty,  as  he  may  have  been  ten 
years  younger  than  Jesus,  —  it  is  not  unlikely  that  Polycarp 
may  have  listened  to  him  when  a  child.  The  reign  of  Marcus 
Aurelius  is  not  given  as  the  date  of  Polycarp's  martyrdom  in 
the  "  Acts  "  relating  that  event ;  but  Eusebius,  by  a  false  reck- 
oning, as  made  fully  clear  by  Waddington,  supposed  that  the 
proconsulate  of  Quadratus  fell  within  that  reign. 

A  journey  to  Rome,  taken  by  Polycarp  during  the  pontifi- 

1  Mdm.  de  VAcad.  des  Tnscr.,  etc.,  xxvi.  part  2  (1867),  232  et  seq.    Comp. 
Waddington,  Fasti  of  the  Asiatic  Provinces,  1872,  part  1,  219-221. 


436  APPENDIX, 

cate  of  Anicetus,  offers  a  difficulty  in  the  chronological  reck- 
oning just  proposed.^  Anicetus,  as  commonly  held,  became 
bishop  of  Rome  not  earlier  than  154,  so  that  we  are  rather 
crowded  to  find  room  for  Polycarp's  journey.  If,  consistently 
with  Waddington's  view  (which  seems  to  be  decisive),  it 
were  necessary  to  set  back  a  little  the  accession  of  Anicetus, 
we  need  not  hesitate  to  do  so,  especially  since  the  pontifical 
lists  are  confused  just  here,  and  some  lists  put  Anicetus  before 
Pius.  Lipsius,  who  has  lately  put  out  an  excellent  treatise  on 
the  chronology  of  the  Bishops  of  Rome  down  to  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, was,  unfortunately,  ignorant  of  Waddington's  memoir. 
He  would  have  found  in  it  material  for  valuable  discussion. 

"  Is  it  likely,"  says  Professor  Scholten,  "  that  an  old  man, 
already  nearing  his  hundredth  year,  would  undertake  such  a 
journey,  at  a  time,  too,  when  travelling  was  far  more  difficult 
than  now  ? "  But  the  journey  from  Ephesus  or  Smyrna  to 
Rome  was  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world.  A  merchant  of 
Hierapolis  tells  us,  in  his  epitaph,^  that  he  had  journeyed 
from  Hierapolis  to  Italy,  round  Cape  Malea,  seventy-two  times. 
He  therefore  must  have  continued  his  passages  till  he  was 
quite  as  old  as  Polycarp  when  he  went  to  Rome.  Such 
voyages  in  summer  —  for  hardly  any  one  travelled  then  in 
winter  —  were  not  in  the  least  fatiguing.  We  may  suppose 
that  Polycarp  went  to  Rome  in  the  summer  of  154,  and  suf- 
fered martyrdom  at  Smyrna  on  the  twenty-third  of  February, 
155.^  Keim's  theory,*  that  the  John  known  to  Polycarp  was 
not  the  Apostle,  but  the  Elder,  is  full  of  difficulties.  If  this 
Elder  was  (as  I  think)  a  person  of  inferior  consequence,  a 
disciple  of  the  Apostle,  who  flourished  about  a.  d.  110-120, 
we  cannot  imagine  that  Polycarp  or  Iren^us  should  have 
confused  the  two.  That  the  Elder  was  really  a  man  of  the 
great  apostolic  period,  equal  in  dignity  to  the  apostles,  whom 
any  one  might  confound  with  them,  I  have  given  elsewhere 

^  Euseb.  Hist.  eccl.  iv.  14 ;  Chron.  ann.  155. 

2  Corpus  inscr.  grcec.  3920. 

«  Mem.  de  VAcad.  xxvi.  240. 

*  Gesch.  Jesu  von  Nazara,  i.  161  et  seq. 


OF  JOHN'S  STA Y  AT  EPHESUS.  437 

my  reasons  for  disbelieving.^    Even  in  that  case  (I  may  add), 
the  error  of  Polycarp  is  about  equally  difficult  to  explain. 

One  of  the  most  curious  parts  of  Scholten's  work  is  that 
in  which  he  returns  upon  the  question  of  the  Fourth  Gospel, 
already  discussed  by  him  so  fully  a  few  years  back.  He  not 
only  refuses  to  admit  this  as  the  work  of  John,  but  denies 
that  it  has  anything  to  do  with  John  ;  he  denies  that  John 
was  the  disciple  whom  it  several  times  mentions  with  a  cer- 
tain mystery,  calling  him  "  the  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved." 
That  disciple,  according  to  him,  is  not  a  real  person.  The 
disciple  who  knows  not  death,  —  who,  unlike  all  the  rest,  is 
to  live  through  the  power  of  his  spirit  till  the  end  of  time,  — 
whose  testimony,  resting  on  spiritual  contemplation,  is  of  ab- 
solute authority,  —  cannot  be  identified  with  any  one  of  the 
Galilaean  apostles  :  he  is  an  ideal  person.  It  is  wholly  impos- 
sible for  me  to  accept  such  a  theory.  But  let  us  not  compli- 
cate one  difficult  question  by  another  still  more  difficult. 
Professor  Scholten  has  shaken  some  of  the  props  which  once 
sustained  the  belief  that  the  apostle  John  lived  in  Asia.  He 
has  shown  that  this  fact  does  not  stand  out  clear  from  the 
half-shadow  which  envelops  almost  every  fact  of  the  apo- 
stolic story.  Regarding  Papias  he  has  raised  an  objection 
hard  to  meet.  Still,  he  has  not  refuted  all  tliat  may  be  al- 
leged in  favour  of  the  tradition.  The  first  chapters  of  the 
Apocalypse,  the  letter  of  Irenaeus  to  Florinus,  and  the  pas- 
sage in  Polycrates  remain,  three  solid  supports,  on  which  we 
may  not,  indeed,  erect  a  certainty,  but  which  Professor  Schol- 
ten, with  all  the  stress  of  his  logic,  has  not  overthrown. 

^  See  Introduction  to  the  present  volume,  pp.  13,  14. 


INDEX. 


Abaddon,  310. 

Abomination  of  Desolation,  228. 

Acte,  124,  253. 

Agrippa  II.,  64,  213,  376,  385. 

Amphitlieatre,  121,  146. 

Angels  in  Enoch,  287 ;  of  nations,  311 ; 
of  winds,  etc.,  30.5. 

Anuaius,  house  of,  38. 

Apocalypse  ("Revelation"):  book  and 
writer,  12-24;  28,  54,  139,  174,  260, 
279,  282, 286,  292-298, 366, 369  ;  struc- 
ture and  events,  299-352  ;  later  theo- 
ries and  comments,  28,  29,  354-357 ; 
its  theology,  357-364. 

Apocryphal  writings,  7,  15,  70,  84,  354. 

Apostates,  237. 

Apostolic  missions,  74 ;  in  Asia,  272. 

Armageddon,  331,  332,  355. 

Armenia,  supposed  retreat  of  Nero,  256. 

Art  in  Rome,  129. 

Asia  Minor,  90,  98,  160, 174 ;  sects,  92. 

Asmonsean  monarchy,  191,  192. 

Assyrian  mythology,  364. 

Atonement,  sacrifice  of,  160. 

Augustus  (the  title),  321. 

Aurelius,  101. 

Babylon,  a  name  of  Rome,  54, 115,  328 ; 
in  Apocalypse,  328, 333 ;  its  downfall, 
340-342. 

Baiae,  266. 

Barabbas,  228. 

Barnabas,  9,  177 ;  probable  author  of 
Hebrews,  178;  apocr.  epistle  of,  362. 

Beast  (of  Revelation),  156, 277,  281,  283, 
iCua)  299,  (dvplov)  314,  319,  320,  322, 
329,335;  mark  of,  281,322-324;  wor- 
ship of,  324,  328;  the  second  Beast, 
325-327. 

Berenice,  201 ;  her  influence  with  Titus, 
376,  387,  394,  400,  404,  413. 


Boethus,  64,  65. 

Bowls  (phials)  of  divine  wrath,  330. 

Caligula,  119, 120, 122. 
Campania  (volcanic  features),  37. 
Canon  of  Muratori,  104,  169. 
Cestius  Gallus  in  Judaea,  213-216. 
Christ  in  Apocalypse,  300. 
Christians  in  Jerusalem,  235 ;  in  Rome, 

36-39,  54-61,  138-143. 
Christology,  87-89. 

Church  of  Jerusalem,  66,  68,  419,  420. 
Churches   in  Asia,  275;  letters  to,  in 

Apocalypse,  288-292. 
Coinage  of  Jews,  224. 
Colossae,  destroyed,  98. 
Colossians,  epistle  to,  93-97. 
Conflagration  of  Rome,  116,  132-135. 
Cythnos  (island  of  false  Nero),  257,  280; 

events  at,  338. 

Damascus,  massacre  of  Jews  in,  221. 
Danaids  and  Dirces,  149,  159,  168. 
Daniel,  Book  of,  284,  313. 
Disasters,  ominous,  262. 
Divination,  261. 

Dragon,   image  of,  240;   bound  for  a 
thousand  years,  344. 

Earthquakes,  as  signs,  264,  268. 
Ebionites,  51,  57,  73,  421. 
Ecclesiastes,  Book  of,  62,  100. 
Edessa,  75. 
Eleazar  in  Jerusalem,  202, 204,  222,  224, 

382;  at  Machaerus,  412. 
Emmaus,  244. 
Emperors  of  Rome    (in   Apocalypse), 

335,  371. 
Empire  and  its  chiefs,  336. 
End  of  the  earth,  369. 
Enoch,  Book  of,  223,  266,  284,  287,  365. 


440 


INDEX, 


Epaphras  (Epaphroditus),  43,  90,  92, 96. 

Ephesiana,  Epistle  to,  178. 

Ephesus,  156,  176;  John  in,  276,  427- 

436. 
Epictetus,  273. 

Epistles  of  New  Testament,  2. 
Ezekiel,  imagery  of,  284,  312,  359. 

False  Prophet,  59. 

Farnese  Bull,  150. 

Flight  to  Pella,  240-243. 

Floras,  governor  of  Judaea,  200,  210. 

Galea,  his  revolt,  248,  250,  251 ;  death, 

282,  352,  372. 
Galilee,  slaughter  in,  226,  227. 
Gauls,  revolt  of,  under  Vindex,  247,  249, 

259. 
German  critics,  as  historians,  3,  25, 424. 
Gnostics,  83,  91,  95. 
Gog  and  Magog,  345,  346,  359. 
Golden  House  of  Nero,  130,  135. 

Hanan  (the  younger),  76,  78,  224 ;  his 
death,  231. 

Hatred  of  the  pagan  world,  365--367. 

Hebrews,  Epistle  to,  author  and  struc- 
ture, 8-11,  177-183,  186. 

Hermas,  "Shepherd"  of,  1.5,  19. 

Hierapolis,  272,  273. 

Horses  (in  Apocal.),  302,  308. 

Immortality,  Jewish  view  of,  360. 
Incarnation,  89. 
Incendiary  mania,  131. 
India,  missions  in,  74. 
Islam,  191. 

James  the  Apostle  (Obliam),  Epistle  of, 
7,  63-69  ;  death,  77. 

Jerusalem,  parties  in,  66,  78,  382 ;  Chris- 
tians in,  5,  60,  80 ;  siege  and  destruc- 
tion of,  385-400;  effect  on  Chris- 
tianity, 419-421  ;  New,  347-350. 

Jesus  of  Nazareth,  kindred  of,  239 ;  son 
of  Hanan,  78. 

Jews  in  Rome,  35,  38 ;  as  persecutors, 
143;  under  foreign  rule,  190,  207; 
under  Koman  rule,  192-195;  in  the 
modem  world,  193,  198;  charities, 
272  ;  the  Jewish  household,  309 ;  para- 
doxical character,  212,  374. 


Joachim,  on  Apocalypse,  357. 

John  the  Apostle,  15,  23,  168,  276-278, 
292;  his  harsh  character,  16,  277; 
sufferings  in  Rome,  168,  175;  in 
Ephesus,  175,  276,  281,  427-436;  as 
writer  of  Apocalypse,  15-18,  21,  23, 
292 ;  bitterness  toward  Paul,  16,  278. 

John  the  Elder,  13,  429,  432. 

John  of  Gischala,  225;  in  Jerusalem, 
228,  373,  400. 

Josephus,  225,  377,  391,  393 ;  at  Rome, 
413. 

Jotapata,  siege  of,  226. 

Judaea,  churches  in,  62;  Judoea  Capta, 
408;  after  the  conquest,  412. 

Judseo-Christians,  73,  328. 

Judas  the  Gaulonite,  416, 

Judgment  day  (in  Apocalypse),  329. 

Kindred  of  Jesus  (desposynoi) ,  80,  239, 

243. 
Knights  of  Augustus  (under  Nero),  119. 
Kulonie  (Emmaus),  244,  412. 

Lamb  (symbol  in  Apocalypse),  18,  112, 

301. 
Laocoon,  as  work  of  art,  121. 
Laodicea,  98,  269,  292. 
Laureolus,  60,  149. 
Law  (Jewish),  abolished,  86;  (Roman), 

195,  409. 
Logos,  87. 

Mach^rus   (Machero),  204,  379,  411, 

412. 
Malvenda  on  Antichrist,  368. 
Man  of  Sorrows,  208. 
Mark  (friend  of  Peter  and  Paul),  107. 
Mark  of  the  Beast,  281,  322-324. 
Martyrs  in  Apocalypse,  306;  souls  of, 

172,  258,  303. 
Martyrdom  (epic  of  the  amphitheatre), 

152;  of  Peter,  161 ;  Paul,  181 ;  James, 

77;  code  of,  106. 
Masada,  the  fortress,  201 ;  stormed  by 

Romans,  204,  412, 
Massacres  in  Palestine,  206,  207,  210- 

213,  221. 
Messiah  in  Apocalypse,  300;  birth,  317. 
Messianic   ideas,  36,   141 ;   predictions, 

199,  227,  360. 
Millenarianism,  22,  362. 


INDEX, 


441 


Missions  in  Asia,  74. 

Moderates  iu  Jerusalem,  229. 

Montauisra,  21,  92. 

Monuments  ("trophies")  of  apostles  in 

Rome,  164-167. 
Mosaic  Law,  189,  409 

Nbeo,  1 ;  his  character  and  rule,  31-34, 
116,  119,  126,  140,254-256;  as  Anti- 
christ, 156,  325,  343,  354,  356;  ambi- 
tious schemes,  217;  insane  vanity,  218; 
on  the  stage,  219 ;  in  Greece,  220, 245- 
247;  terror  under  the  revolt  of  Vin- 
dex,  250;  his  popularity,  255,  375; 
his  death,  253  ;  supposed  revival,  256, 
279,325;  restoration,  283  ;  false  Nero 
at  Cythnos,  257,  280, 338  ;  Nero  a  sec- 
ond founder  of  the  Christian  Church, 
155,368. 

New  Jerusalem,  347,  361,  365. 

Number  of  the  Beast  (in  Apocalypse), 
29,  323,  353,  355. 

Omens  and  signs  (apocalyptic),  261. 
Otho,  succeeds  Galba,  255,  282 ;  an  ad- 
mirer of  Nero,  353,  372. 

Parthia,  218,  223,  256,  281,  331,3.39; 
supposed  retreat  of  Nero,  256 ;  cavalry 
(in  Apocal.),  311. 

Parties  in  Jerusalem,  196,  221. 

Patmos  (as  scene  of  the  Apocalypse), 
294-296. 

Paul  in  Rome,  34,  42 ;  hostility  towards 
him,  .53,  278,  367;  his  last  days,  81, 
101-105,  166;  his  later  views,  84,  95, 
170;  proposed  last  journey,  103,  104. 

Pella  (retreat  of  Christians  beyond  Jor- 
dan). 241-243,  317,  319. 

Persecution  of  Christians,  56,  144-151, 
279,  285;  impotence  of,  173. 

Persian  Empire,  190. 

Peter  iu  Rome,  24,  48,  50,  56,  423,  429 ; 
Epistle  of,  4,  52,  107,  109-114;  cruci- 
fixion, 161-163;  relations  with  Paul, 
51-53,  176;  their  reconciliation,  170. 

Petronius,  128,  173,  266. 

Philip  the  Apostle,  273-275. 

Philippians,  Epistle  to,  41,  43-47,  99. 

Philo,  187. 

Pomponia  Graecina,  32. 

Poppaea,  123,  141,  157. 


Prayers  of  Saints,  139. 
Predictions  ascribed  to  Jesus,  270. 
Provinces  of  Empire,  321. 
Pseudonymous  writings,  15. 
Puteoli,  37  ;  the  region  and  its  popdar 
tion,  265,  266,  310. 

Retribution  in  history,  232. 

Revelation,  see  Apocalypse. 

Revolt  against  Nero,  247;  of  Jews  in 

Judaea,  159,  189. 
Rod  of  iron,  317. 
Roman  and  Jewish  Law,  409. 
Roman  rule  in  Judaea,  192;  policy  in 

the  Provinces,  207. 
Romans,  Epistle  to,  94. 
Rome,  old  and  new,  136;  as  a  holy  city 

for  Christians,  155. 

Sacrifice,  64,  180, 186. 

Sadducees  as  a  party,  62,  196,  234,  414, 

417;  they  perish,  232. 
Satan,  318,  322,  346. 
Scarlet  woman  (in  Apocalypse),  333. 
Sea  (in  the  Apocalypse),  297. 
Sects  in  Asia  Minor,  92. 
Seneca,  117,  120. 
Seven  a  sacred  number,  364. 
Sheol,  346. 

Sibylline  poems,  269,  354. 
Simon  Magus,  39,  49,  54, 59, 60, 143,  325. 
Simon  son  of  Gioras,  214,  224,  382,  390, 

400,  404. 
Solfatara  as  a  volcanic  region,  265,  267, 

310. 
Sosiosh  (the  Zoroastrian  Messiah),  364. 
Spain  as  the  aim  of  Paul's  travel,  104. 
Suffering  not  punishment  but  discipline, 

183;  of  the  Messiah,  111. 
Symbolism,  classic  and  apocalyptic,  365. 
Synagogue  as  opposed  to  City,  191. 
Synoptic  Gospels,  71,  72,  88,  185,  368. 
Syrian  and  Jewish  Massacres,  209-212. 

Talmud,  65. 

Temple  in  Jerusalem,  187,  233, 313,  3.53 ; 

storming  of,  392 ;  its  fall,  395,  396. 
Terror  during  siege,  234. 
Theatre  in  Rome,  121. 
Theocracy,  191,  193,  409. 
Thera  (in  imagery  of  Apocalypse),  269, 

308. 


442 


INDEX. 


Thousand-year  period,  344,  362. 

Thraseas,  42,  123. 

Three-and-a-half  years'  period,  313. 

Tiberius  Alexander,  a  recreant  Jew,  141, 
196,  324,  377,  379,  385,  404. 

Tigellinus,  35,  128,  173. 

Titus,  son  of  Vespasian,  374,  376,  378 ; 
his  schemes,  374,  387,  392,  405 ;  char- 
acter, 394;  in  Jerusalem,  386,  392- 
394, 404 ;  at  Rome,  405 ;  arch  of,  408. 

Torah  and  Roman  Law,  409. 

Triumph  of  Rome  over  Judaea,  410. 

Trophies  of  apostles  and  martyrs  in 
Rome  and  elsewhere,  164-167. 

Trumpets  in  Apocalypse,  307-311. 

Vespasian,  220;  in  Galilee,  225,  374; 
campaign  of  (a.  d.  68),  244 ;  messianic 
attitude,  374  ;  emperor,  375, 379, 380; 
his  triumph,  406-408. 


Vindex,  his  revolt  against  Nero,  247-250, 

259,  282. 
Vitellius,  255,  282,  372  ;  an  admirer  of 

Nero,  375. 
Volcanic  phenomena  in  Italy,  etc.,  264, 

267,  310. 

Witnesses  (the  two)  in  Apocalypse, 

313. 
Women  among  the  Christian  martyrs, 

148,  153,  157. 
Word  of  God  (applied  to  Christ),  178, 

343. 
Wormwood  (the  apocalyptic  star),  309. 

Zacharias,  son  of  Barachias,  235, 239. 
Zealots  in  Jerusalem,  197-209,  214,  230- 

236 ;  after  the  conquest,  413. 
Zoroastrianism  in  Apocalypse,  363. 


Messrs.  Roberts  Brothers'  Publications, 


LIFE   OF  JESUS. 


By  ERNEST  RENAN, 

Author  of  "  History  of  the  People  of  Israel!*  "  The 
Future  of  Science. '* 

From  the  twenty-third  French  edition.    With  notes.    Revised  and 
enlarged.    8vo.    Cloth.    $2.50. 

The  new  edition,  recently  published  in  this  city  by  the  enterprising  house 
of  Roberts  Brothers,  of  Ernest  Kenan's  "Life  of  Jesus,"  uniform  in  style 
with  this  great  scholar  and  writer's  "  History  of  the  People  of  Israel,"  will 
for  all  future  time  be  the  standard  edition  in  English  of  what  is  now  "widely 
recognized  as  the  one  great  literary  monument  of  a  century  of  New  Testament 
criticism."  The  translation  has  been  newly  revised  from  the  twenty-third  and 
final  edition,  which  was  revised  and  corrected  with  the  greatest  care  by  Renan. 
The  editor  of  this  edition  is  Joseph  Henry  Allen,  of  Cambridge,  a  well-known 
scholar,  who  is  eminently  fitted  for  the  important  task  which  he  has  here 
undertaken.  Mr.  Allen  has  revised  the  two  best  known  English  translations 
existing,  recasting  nearly  every  sentence,  and  scrupulously  weighing  the  whole, 
phrase  by  phrase,  with  the  original.  He  has  also  verified  every  one  of  Kenan's 
multitude  of  citations.  It  seems  to  us  that  the  entire  work  could  not  have 
been  more  perfectly  rendered  into  English.  A  wonderful  change  has  taken 
place  in  the  general  Christian  world  during  the  past  thirty  years  m  its  attitude 
towards  Renan  and  his  "  Life  of  Jesus."  He  was  for  years,  after  the  appear- 
ance of  the  earliest  editions  of  his  book,  denounced  as  an  agnostic,  an  atheist, 
and  a  blasphemer  by  evangelical  Christians  who  are  ready  now  to  acknowledge 
the  wonderful  scholarship,  the  genius,  the  purity  of  motive,  the  devout  rever- 
ence of  his  work,  while  of  course  totally  disagreeing  with  Renan  in  his  rejec- 
tion of  the  supernatural  and  the  divinity  of  Jesus,  It  has  become  the  standard 
work  of  its  kind  among  theologians ;  for  the  honesty  of  purpose  and  sincerity 
of  its  author,  together  with  the  wonderful  beauty  and  devoutness  displayed 
throughout  the  entire  work,  is  freely  recognized.  No  writer  ever  treated  Jesus 
in  a  more  tender  and  appreciative  spirit  than  has  Renan.  It  seems  to  us  that, 
while  the  believer  in  the  New  Testament  record  in  its  entirety  will  not  have 
his  faith  shaken  in  the  supernatural  portion,  he  will  rise  from  a  reading  of  this 
book  with  a  more  intense  love  for  Christ,  and  a  fuller  realization  of  the  stu- 
pendous mission  which  was  involved  in  his  brief  active  life  upon  the  earth.— 
Boston  Home  Journal. 


Sold  by  all  Booksellers.    Mailed,  postpaid,  on  receipt  of 
price^  by  the  Publishers, 

ROBERTS  BROTHERS,  Boston. 


Messrs,  Roberts  Brothers'  Publications. 


The  Bible  for  Learners. 


By  Dr.  H.  Oort,  Professor  of  Oriental  Languages  at  Amsterdam, 
and  Dr.  L  Hooykaas,  Pastor  at  Rotterdam,  with  the  assistance 
of  Dr.  A.  KuENEN,  Professor  of  Theology  at  Leiden.  Trans- 
lated from  the  Dutch,  by  Rev.  P.  H.  Wicksteed,  of  London. 
With  a  Comprehensive  Index,  made  specially  for  this  edition, 
and  Maps.     3  vols.     i2mo.     Cloth. 

OLD  TESTAMENT.  Vol.1.  Patriarchs,  Moses,  Judges. — 
Vol.  n.  Kings,  and  Prophets.  ^4.00. 

NEW  TESTAMENT.    Vol.  III.  The  New  Testament.  $2.00. 

"  This  work  emanates  from  the  Dutch  school  of  theologians.  Nowhere 
n  Europe,"  said  the  lamented  J.  J.  Tayler,  "has  theological  science 
assumed  a  bolder  or  more  decisive  tone  than  in  Holland,  though  always 
within  the  limits  of  profound  reverence,  and  an  unenfeebled  attachment  to 
the  divine  essence  of  the  gospel.  .  .  .  We  know  of  no  work  done  here 
which  gives  such  evidence  of  solid  scholarship  joined  to  a  deep  and  strong 
religious  spirit." 

It  is  the  Bible  story,  told  in  a  standing  its  title,  it  is  a  work  for 
connected  form,  with  a  history  of  all,  with  or  without  Bible  learning, 
the  book  and  of  the  Bible  countries  The  scholar  will  value  it  for  its  con- 
and  peoples.  It  properly  treats  of  ciseness  and  labor-saving  references; 
the  Bible  as  the  book  of  religion, —  the  general  reader  for  the  interest 
not  of  one  particular  form,  but  of  it  possesses  as  a  clear  and  interest- 
religion  itself,  —  "because  the  place  ing  narrative,  easily  understood,  in 
of  honor,  in  the  religious  life  of  man-  which  the  explanations,  thoughts, 
kind  and  of  each  man  in  particular,  and  ideas  of  every  great  expounder 
belongs  to  the  person  of  Jesus,  and  have  a  greater  or  less  place. — 
because  it  is  upon  Jesus  that  the  Boston  Transcript. 
whole  Bible  turns*"    It  is  by  keep-  The  object  of  the  work  has  been 

ing  in  sight  the  fact  that  the  Bible  to  reduce  the  narratives  of  Scripture 
is  a  religious  book,  and  is  meant  to  the  understanding  of  youth  and 
to  furnish  answers  to  the  questions  the  unlearned,  with  such  additional 
"  Who  and  what  is  God  ? "  and  information  as  will  serve  to  better 
"  What  are  we  to  do  and  what  leave  elucidate  the  record  and  lead  the 
undone.?" — and  is  not  nor  was  reader  to  value  its  contents  as  a 
meant  to  be  a  book  of  science  or  guide.  Its  simplicity  of  diction  and 
history,  that  the  authors  have  made  the  writer's  infusion  of  a  zealous 
so  valuable  a  work.  —  Golden  Rule,     spirit   into   some   of    its   narratives 

As  a  working  manual  for    the    will  commend  it  to  a  favorable  con- 
Sunday-school    teacher    it    will    be    ^x^tx^Mxon.  — Chicago  Journal. 
found    of    great    value.      Notwith- 


Sold  everywhere  by  all  Booksellers.    Mailed.,  post-paid^ 
by  the  Publishers, 

ROBERTS   BROTHERS,   Boston. 


Messrs.  Roberts  Brothers'  Ptiblications, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

By  ERNEST    RENAN, 

Author  of  "Life  of  Jesus." 

VOL. 

I.   Till  the  Time  of  King  David. 
II.   From  the  Reign  of  David  up  to  the  Capture  of  Samaria. 

III.  From  the  time  of  Hezeltiah  tiii  the  Return  from  Babylon. 

IV.  From  the  Ruie  of  the  Persians  to  that  of  the  Greel(S. 

V.    Period  of  Jewish  Independence  and  Judea  under  Roman  Rule* 
(With  Index.) 

8vo.  Cloth.  Price,  62.50  per  volume. 


Renan's  "  History  of  Israel  "  may  be  said  to  consist  of  three  parts.  The  first 
two  volumes  contam  ihe  analysis  of  the  events  that  led  up  to  the  rise  of  the  prophets; 
in  the  third,  he  unfolds  his  view  of  those  prophets  ;  while  the  last  two  illustrate  the 
course  of  the  prophetical  ideas,  steadily  making  their  way,  despite  constantly  recurring 
backsets,  till  their  final  triumph  in  Jesus.  Viewing  the  five  volumes  as  a  whole,  their 
interest  centres  in  Renan's  mterpretation  of  Hebrew  history;  and  it  may  safely  be 
said  that  nothing  that  he  has  done  reveals  the  brilliancy  of  his  mind  and  the  greatness 
of  his  intellectual  grasp  as  does  this  monument,  which  he  was  fortunately  permitted  to 
finish  before  his  life  came  to  an  end. 

These  last  pages,  written  with  all  the  vigor  that  characterizes  his  earliest  produc- 
tions, furnish  an  admirable  means  of  forming  a  fair  estimate  of  the  man  Renan  him 
self-  To  those  who  are  fond  of  denouncing  him  as  a  cynic,  the  sympathy  which  hi 
last  words  breathe  for  suffering  andstruggling  humanity  constitute  the  best  reply.  H^ 
has  often  been  called  a  sceptic,  and  yet  one  may  search  far  and  wide  through  modern 
literature  for  stronger  expressions  of  true  religious  faith  than  are  to  be  found  in 
Renan's  works.  Above  all,  the  testim(^ny  must  be  given  to  him  which  he  most 
valued,  —  that  his  whole  life  was  actuated  by  a  love  of  truth  He  made  personal 
sacrifices  for  what  he  considered  to  be  the  truth.  He  investigated  fearlessly  ;  and 
when  he  spoke,  the  ring  of  sincerity  in  his  utterances  was  never  wanting,  while  the 
boldness  of  these  utterances  was  always  tempered  with  a  proper  consideration  for 
those  who  held  opinions  differing  from  his.  All  this  is  applicable  in  a  marked  degree 
to  the  last  work  that  issued  from  his  restless  pen. 

It  may  safely  be  predicted  that  Renan's  latest  production  .will  take  rank  as  his 
most  Important  since  the  "  Life  of  Jesus  "  There  is  the  same  charming  style,  the 
same  brilliancy  of  treatment,  the  same  clear  judgment  and  delicate  touches,  the  deep 
thoughts  and  thorough  mastery  of  his  subject,  which  have  made  Renan  one  of  the 
most  fascinating  of  modem  writers.  —  I\^ew  York  Times. 

To  all  who  know  anything  of  M.  Renan's  "  Life  of  Jesus  "  it  will  be  no  surprise 
that  the  same  writer  has  told  the  "  History  of  the  People  of  Israel  till  the  Time  of 
King  David  "  as  it  was  never  told  before  nor  is  ever  like  to  be  told  again  For  but 
once  in  centuries  does  a  Renan  arise,  and  to  any  other  hand  this  work  were  impossible. 
Throughout  it  is  the  perfection  of  paradox,  for,  dealing  wholly  with  what  we  are  aJ'. 
taught  to  lisp  at  the  mother's  knee,  it  is  more  original  than  the  wildest  romance ;  more 
heterodox  than  heterodoxy,  it  is  yet  full  of  large  and  tender  reverence  for  that 
supreme  religion  that  brightens  all  time  as  it  transcends  all  creeds.  —  The  Commercial 
A  dvertiser. 


Sold  by  all  Booksellers.     Mailed,  postpaid^  on  receipt  of  price,  by  the 
Publishers, 

ROBERTS  BROTHERS,  Boston,  Mass. 


Messrs.  Roberts  Brothers^  Publications. 

THE  RELIGION  OF  ISRAEL. 

A  MANUAL, 

Translated  from  the  Dutch  of  J.  Knappert,  Pastor  of  Leiden. 
By  Richard  Armstrong,  B.  A. 

i6mo.    Price  f  i.oc. 

From  ifu  Boston  Daily  Advertiser, 

Its  purpose  is  to  give  a  faithful  and  accurate  account  of  the  results  of  moden 
research  into  the  early  development  of  the  Israelitish  religion.  Without  attenipt* 
ing  to  set  forth  the  facts  and  considerations  by  which  the  most  thorough  and  a^ 
complished  scholars  have  reached  their  conclusions  respecting  the  origin  and  date 
of  the  severad  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  those  conclusions  are  briefly  stated, 
and  the  gradual  development  of  the  Jewish  form  of  religion  traced  down  to  the 
Christian  era.  .  .  . 

The  translator  says  that  there  may  be  those  who  will  be  painfully  startled  by 
some  of  the  statements  which  are  made  in  the  work.  In  his  view,  however,  it  is 
far  better  that  the  young  especially  should  learn  from  those  who  are  friendly  to 
religion  what  is  now  known  of  the  actual  origin  of  the  Scriptures,  rather  than  to 
be  left  in  ignorance  till  they  are  rudely  awakened  by  the  enemies  of  Christianity 
from  a  blind  and  unreasoning  faith  in  the  supernatural  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures. 

From  the  Providence  youmal. 

If  this  Manual  were  not  an  exponent  of  Dutch  theologians  in  high  repute 
among  their  own  countrymen,  and  ii  it  were  not  an  expression  of  the  h  anest  con- 
viction of  Rev. ).  Knappert,  the  pastor  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church  it  Leiden, 
we  should  feel  mclined  to  pass  it  by,  for  it  is  not  pleasant  to  have  doctrines  and 
facts  rudely  questioned  that  have  been  firmly  held  as  sacred  truths  for  a  lifetime. 
And  yet  one  cannot  read  *'  The  Religion  of  Israel "  without  feeling  that  the  writer 
Is  an  earnest  seeker  after  the  truth,  and  has  carefully  weighed  and  diligently  exani' 
ined  the  premises  on  which  his  arguments  are  based,  and  the  conclusions  which  he 
presents  as  the  result  of  his  researches.  ... 

The  book  is  one  of  singular  and  stirring  interest :  it  speaks  with  an  air  of  au> 
thority  that  will  command  attention ;  and,  though  it  ruthlesslv  transforms  time- 
honored  beliefs  into  myths  and  poetic  allegories,  it  makes  its  Sold  attacks  with  a 
reverent  hand,  and  an  evident  desire  to  present  the  truth  and  nothing  but  the 
truth. 

From  the  Boston  Christian  Register. 

Here  we  have,  for  a  dollar,  just  what  many  liberal  Sunday  schools  are  prayinff 
for, — a  book  which  gives  in  a  compact  form  the  conclusions  of  the  "advanced 
•cholarship"  concerning  the  Old  Testament  record.  Taking  Kuenen's  great 
*  History  of  Israel"  for  a  guide.  Dr.  Knappert  has  outlined  what  may  be  called 
the  reverently  rational  view  of  that  religious  literature  and  development  whic^  led 
ap  to  "  the  mlness  of  times,"  or  the  beginning  of  Christianity. 

Sold  everywhere  by  all  Booksellers,  Matted^  postpaid^  by 
the  Publishers, 

ROBERTS   BROTHERS,  Boston. 


Messrs.  Roberts  Brothers'  Publications. 

POSITIVE   RELIGION. 

ESSAYS,   FRAOMENTS,   AND    HINTS. 

By  JOSEPH   HENRY  ALLEN, 

Author  of  "  Christian  History  in  its  Three  Great  Periods,'* 
"  Hebrew  Men  and  Times,"  etc. 

I6MO.      CI_OTH.      PRICE,     Si. 25. 

Among  the  subjects  treated  may  be  noted  the  following,  viz. : 
"  How  Religions  Grow,"  "  A  Religion  of  Trust,"  "  The  World-Re- 
ligions," "The  Death  of  Jesus,"  «' The  Question  of  a  Future  Life,'* 
**  The  Bright  Side,"  "  Religion  and  Modern  Life,"  etc. 

The  subjects  are  discussed,  as  one  will  indeed  plainly  see,  by  a  learned 
Christian  scholar,  and  from  that  height  in  life's  experience  which  one  reaches 
at  three  score  and  ten  years.  They  treat  of  the  growth  of  religion  ;  of  relig- 
ion as  an  experience;  of  the  terms  "Agnostic"  and  "God"  ;  of  the  mystery 
of  pain,  of  immortality  and  kindred  topics.  The  author  is  among  the  best 
known  of  the  older  Unitarians,  and  the  breadth  of  his  views,  together  with  his 
modesty  of  statement  and  ripeness  of  judgment,  give  the  book  a  charm  not  too 
common  in  religious  works.     The  literary  style  is  also  pleasing.  —  Advertiser. 

This  little  volume  of  260  pages  contains  much  that  is  fresh  and  interesting 
and  some  things  which  are  true  only  from  a  Unitarian  standpoint.  It  is 
always  delightful  to  read  an  author  who  knows  what  he  is  writing  about, 
and  can  present  his  thoughts  in  a  clear  and  forcible  manner.  His  intention 
is  to  exhibit  religion  not  so  much  "as  a  thing  of  opinion,  of  emotion,  or  of 
ceremony,  as  an  element  in  men's  own  experience,  or  a  force,  mighty  and 
even  passionate,  in  the  world's  affairs."  Such  an  endeavor  is  highly  lauda- 
ble, and  the  work  has  been  well  done.  —  Christian  Mirror. 

A  collection  of  a  acute,  reverent,  and  suggestive  talks  on  some  of  the  great 
themes  of  religion.  Many  Christians  will  dissent  from  his  free  handling  of 
certain  traditional  views,  dogmas  of  Christianity,  but  they  will  be  at  once  with 
him  in  his  love  of  goodness  and  truth,  and  in  his  contention  that  religion  finds 
its  complete  fruition  in  the  lives  rather  than  the  speculative  opinions  of  men.  — 
N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Mr.  Allen  strikes  straight  out  from  the  shoulder,  with  energy  that  shows 
his  natural  force  not  only  unabated,  but  increased  with  added  years.  "  At 
Sixty :  A  New  Year  Letter "  is  sweet  and  mellow  with  the  sunshine  of  the 
years  that  bring  the  philosophic  mind.  But  we  are  doing  what  we  said  that 
we  must  not,  and  must  make  an  arbitrary  end.  Yet  not  without  a  word  of 
admiration  for  the  splendid  force  and  beauty  of  many  passages.  These  are 
the  product  of  no  artifice,  but  are  uniformly  an  expression  of  that  humanity 
which  is  the  writer's  constant  end  and  inspiration.  In  proportion  as  this  finds 
free  and  full  expression,  the  style  assumes  a  warmth  and  color  that  not  only 
give  an  intellectual  pleasure,  but  make  the  heart  leap  up  with  sympathetic 
courage  and  resolve.  —  J.  W.  C. 

Sold  everywhere. 

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Messrs.  Roberts  Brothers'  Publications, 


CHRISTIAN  HISTORY 

IN  ITS  THREE  GREAT  PERIODS.  First  Period: 
Early  Christianity.  By  Joseph  Henry  Allen, 
Lecturer  on  Ecclesiastical  History  in  Harvard  Univer- 
sity. With  Chronological  Outline  and  Index,  and  an 
Introduction  on  the  Study  of  Christian  History.  i6mo. 
Cloth.     Price,  $1.25. 

Topics:  i.  The  Messiah  and  the  Christ;  2.  Saint  Paul; 
3.  Christian  Thought  of  the  Second  Century;  4.  The  Mind  of 
Paganism  ;  5.  The  Arian  Controversy ;  6.  Saint  Augustine  ;  7.  Leo 
the  Great ;  8.  Monasticism  as  a  Moral  Force ;  9.  Christianity  in 
the  East;  10.  Conversion  of  the  Barbarians ;  11.  The  Holy  Ro- 
man Empire  ;   12.  The  Christian  Schools. 

"  In  whatever  way  we  regard  the  origin  and  early  growth  of  Christianity, 
whether  as  special  revelation  or  as  historic  evolution,  the  key  to  it  is  to  be 
found  not  in  its  speculative  dogma,  not  in  its  ecclesiastical  organization,  not 
even  in  what  strictly  constitutes  its  religious  life,  but  in  its  fundamentally 
ethical  character.  In  either  way  of  understanding  it,  it  is  first  of  all  a  gos- 
pel for  the  salvation  of  human  life."  — Preface. 

"I  have  read  your  Fragments  of  Christian  History  with  instruction  and  delight 
You  are  a  miracle  of  candor  and  comprehensiveness.  .  .  .  You  and  Dr.  Hedge  are 
almost  the  only  men  who  know  thoroughly  the  whole  grand  field  of  Ecclesiastical 
History.  ...  I  most  cordially  send  you  my  thanks  for  such  an  illuminanon  as  you 
have  given  me,  on  many  obscure  points  of  Christian  History."  —  E.  P.  Whipple 
to  the  A  uthor. 

"  We  do  not  desire  to  state  an  unqualified  agreement  with  all  the  conclusions 
of  Professor  Allen,  and  yet  we  are  free  to  confess  that  we  know  of  no  work  of  the 
same  scope  which  could  be  put  into  the  hands  of  a  thoughtful  young  man,  in 
which  he  could  find  so  much  sound  philosophy,  valuable  historical  review,  and 
devout  appreheusion  of  essential  Christianity  as  he  will  find  in  '  Fragments  of 
Christian  History.'  "  —  Chicago  Alliance. 

Sold  everyvi'here  by  all  booksellers.  Mailed,  post-paid,  by  the 
publishers, 

ROBERTS  BROTHERS,   Boston. 


14  DAY  TT^F 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  /^-   '  ;         , . 

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